While slightly dissapointing that the Powerful Noise film didn’t have sound, it got me thinking. For the part of the film that we stayed for, the entire theater was sitting there in complete silence watching the video feed. Because most of the women in the film didn’t speak English, there were subtitles. From the subtitles, you could get an idea of what was going on, but it made me realize how absolutely critical audio is to gaining a full understanding of the situation.
This, to me, strongly paralleled one of the story lines in the movie, where a woman in Mali was teaching women how to read and write, among other basic skills. The hope was that with these increased skills, the women could go out and get good jobs and provide a life for themselves and their families. With new knowledge of a fundamental skill these women were able to gain a better understanding of life and the world around them, and better advocate for themselves. From the expressions on the women’s faces, they looked really eager to learn any and all skills that someone was willing to teach them.
I’m hopeful to be able to see the movie again with the full audio track.
