...back, with thoughts on film and silence

...Back from a self-appointed maternity leave from this arts blog!

Last night, I went to see a neighborhood screening of the film "Silences" by Octavio Warnock-Graham of New York. Octavio is the son of Harriet Warnock-Graham and David Graham of Second Street in Troy. His film is about the silence surrounding his biracial identity. His mother wouldn't talk about the ethnicity of his birth father. After the film, I wanted to slap her in the face and ask, "Why? Why did you hide this from your son?" Alas, I do not believe in violence and did not do such a thing. Instead, I sat and digested the power of the film, the power of race, the power of the subject matter and the medium... I thanked my mother in silence for telling me the truth about my adoption and the truth of whom she knows me to be, for not withholding such vital information. And I thanked God for my new daughter, Satya. Her names means "truth."

I also meditated on the power of film to convey, inform and transform... and wondered if I'm in the wrong field. Does writing carry such clout, such brevity, such power, to evoke that what film does?

Finally, I concurred with the filmmaker's thoughts on silence -- that there is more power, sometimes, in what is NOT said and what is hidden, rather than what is told and brought to the light. Many times, Octavio had asked others why they never spoke of his race or identity. They always answered, "It didn't matter." Octavio posited, however, that it did matter -- that the elephant in the room should be spoken of, or else it will become an obvious something that DOES matter but no one dares talk of. Like the emperor with no clothes, he said.

So, why don't we talk about the obvious things we should talk about? I.e., why don't we tell people the truth more often and say "I love you" more often? Is it fear? Is it indifference? Please, tell me.

Oh, and check out Octavio's film trailer at: silencesfilm.com