GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020 - Song Without a Name (Canción sin nombre)
GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL 2020
Director Melina León's directorial debut, Song Without a Name (Canción sin nombre), is profound and enlightening drama on the political chaos and oppressive governmental regime of Peru in the 1980s.
The comparisons between Melina Leon's Song Without a Name and Alfonso Cuaron's Roma will come in thick and fast — not only aesthetically but thematically too. While Cuaron's film earned glory at the academy awards, it is Leon's film that is the most compelling and profound between the two.
Leading actress Pamela Mendoza as Georgina is a sledgehammer of thematic power on screen. The actress’ commitment to the role and the emotional conviction that she spurns is nothing short of outstanding. The levels of rage, coupled with the stirring moments of silence, have a captivating gravitas.
The emotional level of devastation here is utterly heartbreaking at every single turn but while the feature travels the thin line between utter psychological torture and harrowing sequences, it does so in the upmost respect and acknowledgement of the systematic horrors that occurred to the innocent civilians.
León crafts this terror not in overly obvious manners but often softly woven aesthetics. Namely, the 1.33.1 aspect ratio that crafts an intensely unsettling and claustrophobic atmosphere. Combined with the monochrome aesthetic, the image is filled with crippling morbid darkness that devastates in sequences throughout, captured in a juxtaposed beauty from cinematography Inti Briones.
Writer-director Melina León and co-writer Michael J. White have crafted something here with profound consequence and importance. Song Without A Name highlights the atrocities to a silent and oppressed society and era, asking to reap no reward. Giving a voice to those who had theirs taken away and silenced in despicable acts of evil.
