"Stellet Licht" or "Stilles Licht" or "Silent Light" is a co-production between all kinds of countries inside and outside Europe and it was made back in 2007, so it has its 10th anniversary next year. The writer and director is Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas and this is probably his most known work, also because of the big awards attention it received all over the world. The movie runs for almost 2.5 hours, so be prepared for a long sitting. This is the story of a man living in a Mennonite community in Mexico and what happens when he falls in love with a new woman. The premise is pretty decent and I also think the acting was solid. It is, as you already hear from the location where it takes place, a very specific film about a very specific topic too. Also, it is almost unique in the huge world of film that we have a film in Low German language, something that actually exists not even in Germany anymore and it is by far the most known, actually the only somewhat famous film, in this language. So, German audiences will need subtitles for sure as does the rest of the work as you won't understand a word otherwise. I personally must say, however, that I did not end up enjoying the watch too much. The topic was something I had little interest in and the characters were also not really fascinating to watch from my perspective. The result was that, also because of the previously mentioned runtime, that the film dragged on many occasions for me. Another problem for me personally was that I did not know any of the actors in here and that's why I could not personify with any of the characters, even if this is probably not too surprising as most of the cast members have never acted before or afterward again. I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

In a rural community, the farmer Johannes "Johan" Voth (Cornelio Wall) is married with children with Esther (Miriam Toews). Johan is living a dilemma, since he has an affair with the merchant Marianne (Maria Pankratz) and they have fallen in love with each other. Johan seeks advice with his father and his best friend since he lives in a conservative community, but he does not end the love affair. Until the day Esther dies of broken heart.

"Stellet Licht" is among the most tedious films ever made. The director Carlos Reygadas makes a film using a short story (or the storyline only) with 145 minutes running time with an annoying slow pace. There is no development of the location and the viewer need to read to know that the story takes place at a Mennonite (a Christian group) community in Mexico. It takes 22 minutes to know that plot is about the love affair of Johan and his feeling of guilty with Esther and his children. The comparison of this director with Carl Dreyer or Andrei Tarkovsky is pretentious and laughable. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Luz Silenciosa" ("Silent Light")

A film about a snow-covered area of Mexico inhabited by emotionally reticent German-speakers promises some surprises; and we get our first when the film begins with ten whole minutes without a single word of dialogue or any discernible action, before the first line (a simple "Amen") is uttered. With the opening sequences out the way, thing start to happens, but at a slow pace, and with many long scenes filmed with static cameras that reminded me of Terrence Davies' Liverpool trilogy, although those films were nowhere near as still as this one. At its worst, the result could be dismissed as a long film about agriculture; but at is best, the slow pace pays dividends, as the audience learns how to react to the minutiae of the characters' lives. For example, there's one scene, where we wait for a truck to reverse, that takes about 10 seconds, but in taking these ten seconds (which would have been cut in almost any other film),the poignancy of the moment is captured in a way would have been lost if the blank space had been edited out. But I didn't completely understand the ambiguous ending and during the final (again silent) five minutes, I regrew my impatience with the film. There's some brilliance on display here, but also some self-indulgence, albeit in highly understated form. But it's worth watching in either case, as an unsentimental but emotionally moving portrait of a community not many people elsewhere in the world know too much about.