Silent Light

Johan, who lives in a Mennonite community in northern Mexico, has a wife, children and another woman he loves. His wife knows. The law of the community and his own faith both tell him what he must do, and he cannot decide, and the entire film turns on that suspension. Carlos Reygadas cast from inside the community and shot in their language, Plautdietsch; most of them had never been in front of a camera. The film opens with a five-minute unbroken sunrise and closes on a symmetrical sunset. The miracle at the end invokes Dreyer's Ordet directly and makes no attempt to hide it. It won the Jury Prize at Cannes. Who it is for: viewers who like slow cinema and the tradition of religious imagery. Who it is not for: anyone who struggles with a low pulse rate.