A Quiet Place (★★★★★) is one of the scariest horror films ever made. When you see it, make sure you turn off your mobile phone, don’t take any popcorn or food that will make a noise and don’t talk. The opening scenes are in complete silence. Evelyn and Lee Abbot (real-life married couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski) walk barefoot along a path of white sand with their children from some abandoned shops where they have gathered supplies. When their youngest son activates a noisy toy, a huge creature that relies on sound to locate prey, swoops on him.
Communicating through whispers and sign language, the couple return to their adapted shelter with their other two children – deaf daughter Regan (Millicant Simmonds who is actually hearing impaired) and son Beau (Cade Woodward). Leaping forward in time, a very pregnant Evelyn is planning to give birth and the implications of this are horrendous. Directed by John Krasinski, this film doesn’t use the usual horror film tricks, but creates dread and brings waves of terror in almost subtle ways. The most excruciatingly terrifying thing in the film, for me, was a nail sticking out of a step.
The Song Keepers (★★★★★) is an extraordinary documentary by independent filmmaker Naina Sen. As writer, director, producer, cinematographer and editor, she has captured a remarkable story that started 140 years ago. When Lutheran missionaries came to the Central Australian Desert in 1877, the indigenous people of the area translated the hymns into their languages. As they used song to pass knowledge and culture to the following generations, the hymns were passed down along with their indigenous culture and the two cultures brought strength to the communities.
When choirmaster Morris Stuart began working with the choir from six remote communities, he suggested that the women take to songs back to Germany and a ‘boomerang’ tour was arranged for 30 women and 2 male choristers in 2015. Sen chronicles this unique cultural exchange and says “It’s about strength and hope and survival – of people, of culture, of language. And at the end of the day it’s a joyous celebration of these women taking culture back to its source – but on their own terms.” Hymns are uplifting songs anyway, and the individual women’s stories are incredibly moving.
The Divine Order (★★★★1/2), a Swiss film written and directed by Petra Volpe, makes the political personal and vice versa. Set in a small village in Switzerland in 1971, Nora (Marie Leuenberger) is happy with her life until her husband Hans (Maximilian Simonischek) forbids her from getting a part-time job. At the same time, her sister-in-law Therese (Rachel Braunschweig) finds herself unable to save her daughter from alcoholic husband’s severe punishments. Nora investigates Swiss law and finds out how much their husbands control their lives in a country that hasn’t even given its women the right to vote.
Alongside old campaigner Vroni (Sibylle Brunner) and Italian newcomer Graziella (Marta Zoffoli), Nora and Therese distribute leaflets and go on a protest march, and Nora reluctantly finds herself the face of the protest for equal rights. They organise a strike and leave the men with the household chores while they move into Graziella’s restaurant. There’s lots of humour as their gradual awakening to the political and personal gender issues reflects the concerns of the everyday woman in a small village.
The Divine Order screens at UWA’s Somerville from April 9th – 15th.
Lezly Herbert
