The medium of film has an
amazing ability to trigger emotions, even very strong ones, through dialogue,
narrative, cinematography, and even sound. The suspension of disbelief, if achieved,
renders the impact all the more complete. Dread, for example, can be conjured
up even at a deep level in the psyche of a film-viewer. That emotion can be
fused with another, seemingly antipodal emotion, such as joy, and an
instrumental score can capture and stimulate both. Such is the case with the
film, Silent Night
(2021), which interestingly was made during the global coronavirus pandemic in
which even young people were suddenly confronted with the notion that they
could die rather than grow up. The film’s closing instrumental version of the
song, “Silent Night,” incredibly fuses joy with dread and even hints at distant
religion as sheer depth in feeling rather than anything supernatural. The
fusion of Christmas joy and the dread of suicide inexorably coming up is best epitomized
by the instrumental, hence more than by the plot, dialogue or visuals.
The full essay is at "Silent Night."
