Art as Politics, Bach through Portabella

Pere Portabella's The Silence Before Bach is why I live in New York City. Whenever I feel a little lost in the big city and dream of living somewhere greener with cheaper rent, I remind myself that I live in a city where I can go to the local movie theater and see something as wonderful as Portabella's Bach.

A lyrical look at the life and music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, the film explores the relationship between image and sound. Portabella gives us Bach's music on many instruments, some classical, some modern. The images that accompany the sound appear at first to only be connected through the simple relation of the image to the sound, but as the picture progresses the narrative fragments slowly start to connect, revealing a hidden portrait of the composer and of how music plays a role in life today.

For a film filled with sound, it's actually very quiet, it's simple and never shouts the answer to the audience. The opening images are of a barren loft with a self-propelled player piano that gives us Bach's “Goldberg” Variations. From there on we are treated to scenes of a man assuming the role of the actual Bach, a subway filled with string instruments, a horse dancing and present day truck drivers, one expressing his love for Bach on his harmonica.

What really stood out for me, was the film's ability to capture the pure beauty of music, specifically how Bach created something that changed humanity forever. In doing so, Bach has taken on the role of a political person, of someone who is working to overcome the negative in the world. Albert Camus wrote about this idea, that an artist who creates something beautiful, who gives something to the world, is as political as someone at a protest. He contends that authentic political existence can be about defying the things that are working to destroy humanity by connecting us with something that embraces it.

Bach and the many artists that fill the pages of history, have given us this gift and Pere Portabella has continued that vision, that action, by creating a document that puts Bach's music in a contemporary context for today's audiences. The film plays in New York for only 2 more days, so if you live here check it out asap.

If you don't, I highly recommended that you take the time to watch the clip below, sitting with it will give you a taste of how inspirational the film is. They may even encourage you to contact his production company, Films 59, to request the film in your area.

The chances of the film coming to DVD soon is not very likely. Portabella has had strong thoughts on home viewings and how they change the context of a work - although rumors of talks with Chicago distribution company Facets have given me some hope.