The Sound of Silence

Simon and Garfunkel were a popular duo back in the sixties. Among their many hits was the song The Sound of Silence. This song has a beautiful melody but communicates a sad message. It speaks of the kind of silence that negates and creates distance from others. It is a kind of silence that is more deafening to hear than the Babel of words media bombard us with.

I think silence (on the positive side) is becoming a precious commodity these days. I suddenly realized there is so much noise around us.

You see, we live right in the heart of the city. For almost twenty-four hours a day the sounds of cars and jeepneys passing by are unabated. It is not unusual to hear loud music from the karaokes of fast food centers in the vicinity even at early dawn, (the time when I am mostly at a dreaming state because of the chilly draft that enters my window.) Often times I am jolted from my sleep not only by this loud music but also by other noises, such as a shouting match between a drunken husband and his wife or a group of drunks talking on top of their lungs.

I guess noise is one of the consequences of modern living and the development of technology. Noise… words… engulf us and tend to overcome us. We become lost meeting the demands of our day to day activities. It’s becoming difficult to listen and reflect especially if the noise that we encounter not only comes from without but also within us.

The season of Advent is a fitting time to allow the value of silence to sink deep into our hearts. In a world that is lost in a sea of words and deafening noises it is good to let silence invade our whole being. But let this not be a silence that negate or alienate others but rather a fruitful silence that forms and sustains friendships – a silence that leads to understanding and communion. There cannot be more tragic than to live in a kind of silence that isolate us from the rest of the world. That’s precisely what the song The Sound of Silence means:

In a restless world I walked alone
On narrow street of cobbled stones…
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people may be more

People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
…within the sound of silence.

I am reminded of this song especially in this season of Advent. This period of waiting for the coming of Jesus is a period where silence plays an important part. But let it be a silence that sustains reflection and generates action. For it is in the silence of our hearts that we are able to hear the voice of the Lord communicating to us his love.

Not an Ordinary Cinderella

Once upon a time, in a far away land…

When I was a kid I remember us receiving cartons and cartons of hardbound books from the United States. It did not dawn on me to ask who sent the books or why those were sent to us. My preoccupation then was how to finish reading those beautiful books of short stories and fairy tales. Just like an ordinary kid on the block, fairy tales were very much part and parcel of my childhood fantasies. I was fascinated no end by stories of chivalry, of a beautiful princess being rescued by a charming and courageous prince. Wicked people who make things difficult for my prince charming and beautiful princess outraged me.

Fairy tales (at least the ones we used to know) has an oft-repeated theme of a beautiful and rich but frail princess being rescued by a charming and gallant prince. The woman is always portrayed as weak and dependent and the man as a dashing hero, strong and courageous. How about a change in perspective?

Andy Tennant (director and screenwriter of the movie Ever After), applies a total paradigm shift in his presentation of this film based on the life of Cinderella. It is completely a far cry from the Cinderella story you and I are used to. In this movie, Drew Barrymore gives life to the character of Danielle, a 16th century young woman. Danielle is not your typical Cinderella. She is athletic and protective of people. She is beautiful yes, but her beauty is not merely skin deep. She loves to read St. Thomas More’s Utopia and can easily quote from it. She is independent and stands up with conviction against her scheming stepmother.

The story gives logic on specific actions of characters. In fact, Danielle’s decision to stay in his father’s house even if she were reduced to being a servant to her extended family stems not out of weakness but from her desire to preserve the memory of her beloved father. She is a survivor, certainly not the “typical damsel in distress” waiting for the prince to rescue her. On the contrary, it was she who rescued the prince from a pack of bandits by carrying him on her back. (God, how I laughed on this scene.) On many occasions her keen intelligence and firm opinion on certain subjects have somewhat put the prince ill at ease and painfully aware of his lack of conviction.

This is certainly a kind of fairy tale that has a touch of realism in it. It is a Cinderella story for the new generation. Tennant says he wants to present a different version of Cinderella story because he does not want his “children to grow up believing that one has to marry a rich man with a big house in order to live happily ever after.” Hurray for him!

I find the story very appealing. It’s not the kind of mushy romance we often see in other films. I love the way the character of Danielle is presented in this story.

There are many beautiful shots in this movie that are worth mentioning. Natural lighting is used in most scenes. I find those scenes where there are lots of interplay between light and shadows very intriguing and romantic. The director of photography, by the way, is Andrew Dunn, B.S.C. Sharing credits with Drew Barrymore are Dougray Scott as Prince Henry and Anjelica Houston as the scheming stepmother.

Dreams

“Man is a genius when he is dreaming.” Akira Kurosawa

The name Akira Kurosawa may not ring a bell to an ordinary moviegoer but for film enthusiasts, Kurosawa is not a stranger. He was a celebrated Japanese film director, screenwriter and producer whom outstanding American film makers like Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola cited as a primal influence in film making. Akira Kurosawa had 31 movies to his credit, 3 Oscars, and various awards earned in film competitions abroad.

In 1990, he wrote and directed a movie entitled Dreams. Critics raved over the film’s rich visual imagery and thought provoking insights. Consisting of eight episodes, the film explores the futility of war, the danger of nuclear power, our affinity with nature and the responsibility to preserve the ecological balance of the environment. The cast is composed mostly of Japanese actors who have already appeared in some of his previous films.

Each of the eight episodes is presented in a form of a dream and runs approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Cinematography is superb and narrative is mostly visual and less dialogic.

The movie is a very good tool for discussion because of its thought-provoking insights. The eight episodes, although interconnected in theme, tell different stories.

I have seen this film on video a few years back and have been really struck by its beautiful presentation. I was fascinated by the work of this man but did not really get interested until recently when I saw the video again and read about his death in September 8 this year.

Kurosawa was regarded as the “world’s greatest living director” in his lifetime. He started directing his first movie at the age of 33. He got his first Oscar award in 1952 for his movie Rashomon.

In 1993 all of Kurosawa’s 31 movies were released on laserdisc and video.