ORIGINAL TITLE
Luz Silenciosa
2007
DIRECTOR
Carlos Reygadas
SCREENPLAY
Carlos Reygadas
PRODUCTION
Carlos Reygadas, Jaime Romandia
DURATION
142 minutes
COUNTRY
Mexico
CAST
Elizabeth Fehr, Jacobo Klassen, Maria Pankratz, Miriam Toews
35mm
Original German version with Italian and English subtitles
PLOT
Carlos Reygadas wrote and directed this 2007 film in which a simple theme – commitment to God and family – is given epic dramatic space. Set in the Mennonite community of Northern Mexico, a married father of seven endures a test of his faith when he falls in love with another woman. Reygadas’s approach takes on a religious purity of its own, as he uses a cast of mostly nonprofessional actors to the depth of feeling.
“Reygadas was inspired by Dreyer; it is almost a silent film. He deals with love and family in very spiritual ways, by showing how the soul can be divided. In the first scene, Reygadas takes us by the hand and shows us like no one before, what we have forgotten to look at: the miracle of a sunrise”.