Mennonite movie worth 7-minute ovation? – At the Cannes Film Festival – Mexican film “Luz Silenciosa (Silent Light)”

“At the Cannes Film Festival, the new Mexican film “Luz Silenciosa (Silent Light)” received a seven-minute standing ovation after its screening, on its way to winning the prestigious jury prize. So when the movie finally came to Mexico this month, I had to see what the fuss was about.

My wife and I scored tickets to a pre-screening with the director, Carlos Reygadas, at the UNAM, Mexico’s massive 100,000-student state university. Reygadas is a bona fide trailblazer: he has made a name for himself by refusing to use trained actors and employing hardcore sex scenes in his previous works. His latest film though is almost more meditation than movie – it takes place in the largely unexplored world of Mexican Mennonites in the border state of Chihuahua.”*

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