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That's the plea for help from a wife and mother (Zeinab Rahal) at a police station. Her husband has hit her repeatedly and has threatened to kill her and their teenage son (Yusuf Kamal El-Ali). What's the catch? She's a Muslim woman covered with a burqa, living in the Netherlands where nobody understands her language. Moreover, the translator (Amira Helene Larsen) brought to assist her is not translating her words properly, not conveying the urgency of her situation.
Listen was a simple yet harrowing short film. But even in its apparently simple premise, directors Nyoni and Ramezan use a carefully layered approach to the scene where we see the woman's testimony from different perspectives, while examining how others react to her claims. There is a lot of physical performance, especially from Larsen, who I thought was great in how she transmits her frame of mind with her eyes and overall demeanor as she's listening.
I'm hardly an expert, but as far as I read, the Qur'an is very clear regarding domestic violence and spousal separation. But that is not necessarily what's put "on trial" here, but rather the lack of empathy because of misunderstanding, the effects of the language barrier, gender roles, isolation, and the bureaucratic barriers put in place for a woman to get the help she needs. It's not that we don't listen, but that we listen what we want and how we want, and act according to our interests and beliefs, instead of those of who we're listening.
Grade:
LISTEN
(2014, Nyoni & Ramezan)
A film about Islam or Islamic characters
(2014, Nyoni & Ramezan)
A film about Islam or Islamic characters
"I can't go back. I can't. I beg you to help us."
That's the plea for help from a wife and mother (Zeinab Rahal) at a police station. Her husband has hit her repeatedly and has threatened to kill her and their teenage son (Yusuf Kamal El-Ali). What's the catch? She's a Muslim woman covered with a burqa, living in the Netherlands where nobody understands her language. Moreover, the translator (Amira Helene Larsen) brought to assist her is not translating her words properly, not conveying the urgency of her situation.
Listen was a simple yet harrowing short film. But even in its apparently simple premise, directors Nyoni and Ramezan use a carefully layered approach to the scene where we see the woman's testimony from different perspectives, while examining how others react to her claims. There is a lot of physical performance, especially from Larsen, who I thought was great in how she transmits her frame of mind with her eyes and overall demeanor as she's listening.
I'm hardly an expert, but as far as I read, the Qur'an is very clear regarding domestic violence and spousal separation. But that is not necessarily what's put "on trial" here, but rather the lack of empathy because of misunderstanding, the effects of the language barrier, gender roles, isolation, and the bureaucratic barriers put in place for a woman to get the help she needs. It's not that we don't listen, but that we listen what we want and how we want, and act according to our interests and beliefs, instead of those of who we're listening.
Grade: