The choir featured in “Sing,” the Hungarian movie that won best live action short film in this year’s Academy Awards, is the existing choir of the Bakáts Square Musical Primary School. The kids’ remarkable story is a strong portrayal of how silence can speak louder than words. (Photo Credit: MTI, Source: http://www.origo.hu/)
One of my favorite Oscar-nominated movie categories is the short live pieces – similar to short stories in literature – that range from approximately five to thirty minutes. There’s neither time for fluff nor irrelevant information. The heart of the story must be packaged in a condensed, clear form, like a swift punch in the abdomen. In Torsion (2002) by Stefan Arsenijevic, a cow is about to die giving birth to a calf locked in a twisted position in the midst of exploding bombs in war-torn Sarajevo. A choir on the way to Paris soothes the frantic cow by singing and the calf is born. Art triumphs over war; humanity declares victory. The message eludes words. This masterful, antiwar short movie stunned me with an impact that remains undiminished today, 14 years later.
Sing, a Hungarian short film directed and written by Kristóf Deák, won the Oscar for short live movies in the 2017 Academy Awards. The story is about a young new student at school who loves to sing, but is told by the head teacher of the choir that she has no talent and must mime the words of the songs. She can stand with the others, but her voice cannot blend with the others. It’s a sham and a travesty. It turns out that numerous other students were told the same thing. The teacher silenced all the voices that she deemed less gifted and that might damage her chances of winning the interscholastic competition for choirs. Win!!
But, the girl and her friend in the chorus have a brainstorm: have everyone in the choir mime the song at the competition! Oh my goodness, what a scene. The teacher-director starts to conduct a choir of moving lips that are absolutely silent – no music, no response – a protest of silence. The teacher is baffled, as is the audience. Then she gets angry, and then angrier. The kids in the choir stick to their guns lacking bullets. Finally, the teacher stalks off, frustrated, defeated, humiliated. End of movie. There’s no question about who won that battle, or how it was won. Silence.
This short film was as powerful as a Ghandi protest of peaceful resistance. The morality and message shouted louder than any speech.
And then my mind turned to Trump, today’s tweeting version in our country of an attempt to silence any protest, eliminate anyone that dares express any contrary opinion. Throw out the press! Dispatch the immigrants! Dismantle the agencies!
We should learn from the courage of young oppressed students. We should scream as loudly as the choir that mimes. They beat the system by their silence. It’s so simple really. When some members of the press are thrown out, no members of the press should appear. How about that: a press conference in an empty room.
Boycott. Have courage. Disregard the bully. Nothing speaks louder or hurts more than being ignored.
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