Silence is golden

The Oscar nominations came out this week, and The Artist received 10 nominations, including best picture. In fact, after winning the Golden Globe for best comedy or musical, it is the front runner for best picture. It is the first silent film (more on that later) to be nominated since the first Academy Award for best picture went to Wings in 1929. See a trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8K9AZcSQJE.

You may have noted that it did not make my top 10 list (see my blog "My top 10 films of 2011"). But that's because it did not arrive at a cinema in Wichita, Kan. (I live in Newton, a half hour north) until this past week. Had I seen it earlier, it likely would have. (By the way, if you're interested in top 10 film lists, go to metacritic.com, which shows lists of critics from all the major outlets.)
The Artist begins in the silent film era and features Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, a silent film star, and his dog Jack, played by a Jack Russell terrier named Uggie who practically steals the show with his charming antics. Valentin helps a young actress, Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), get her start, and eventually she becomes the next big thing, especially after talkies begin. The proud Valentin refuses to take part in this new technology but remains true to his art in the silent media. That conflict and interplay between art and pride become a major theme of the film, which delves into melodrama at times.
But I want to explore a different theme--silence. Most people haven't watched many silent films and so will find this one strange at first, a novelty or even a frustration. (I heard of a theater in England where patrons complained that there was no dialogue in the film.) But soon you'll get accustomed to the genre. And you'll discover it's not completely silent, since it includes music, which in this case is often lively. (And this film also includes other sounds at certain places.) Silent films also often include intertitles, shots of written words spliced between the action shots.
I hope this film will encourage more viewers to look at silent films. There are some great ones, many available through Netflix or elsewhere. One of my favorites is a French film with the English title The Passion of Joan of Arc. It would make my top 10 list of the greatest films of all time. What that film shows, as does The Artist and many other silent films, is the emotion actors can reveal through their facial expressions and gestures. Dujardin, who is nominated for best actor, is especially good at this, and in one scene he exaggerates this element of silent films, as this film spoofs the making of another film.
Another aspect of silent films is that they impel the viewer to pay greater attention to the actors' expressions and to the action. We become like those who lose their hearing and gain a greater sense of sight. Since we can't depend on hearing actors' words, we have to attend to what we see and gain understanding from that.
This can apply to our spiritual life as we live that out in our daily lives.Silence is an ancient practice in the Christian tradition as well as in other religions. Some monks and others take a vow of silence and communicate with others through sign language.
We need not go to that extent to experience the benefits of silence. Instead we can take smaller steps, practice listening to others carefully instead of only thinking of how we will respond verbally. We can even (horrors!) turn off our TVs, ipods or radios and dwell in silence. Try it even for five or 10 minutes. Like watching a silent film, it will take a while to adjust. We are so accustomed to having noise of some kind around us that silence can feel threatening. It may drive us inward to face the voices inside us. And that may scare us. But be patient and listen.