THE STORY OF A SILENT SIEGE : "BESIEGED / ASSEDIO"

A good friend whose opinions I greatly respect, once said that if there is too much “conversation” in a film it means the director is not able to tell the story with the camera – and thus is not a good director. I told him at the time, and still maintain that this is a touch too harsh. I think you can have “too little conversation” in some films, especially if the director is pretending at talents he really doesn’t possess. And then there is clever dialogue, witty repartee. I love the whole “tennis match” feeling you get from a really clever dialogue. But then again, there are some directors who are perfectly able to tell a story with minimal dialogue and maximum camerawork. I do not mean the minimalists per se, they are an entirely different kettle of fish. In this particular case, I mean Bertolucci. I mean, the guy is not a minimalist; the dialogue doesn’t go at one sentence every 20 minutes. Then again, any unnecessary dialogue has been removed. And this deeply emotional film has been told basically thanks to camerawork and shifts of lighting. This is why the man and the film deserve some serious respect – in my opinion anyway.
Shanduray lives with her husband Winston in an unknown African country. The country is, as is most African countries in political turmoil. And Shanduray’s life is turned upside down when Winston is taken into custody for political reasons. Unable to bear the stress, Shanduray escapes to Italy. She settles in Rome, finds a job cleaning a rather eccentric pianist – Mr. Kinsky’s- house and starts studying medicine. There is no way of finding out if Winston is still alive, Shanduray worries deeply about him but gets on with her life – or rather tries to. Her semblance of order is upset when Mr. Kinsky, unable to bear it any longer, confesses his love for her and asks her to marry him. Shanduray, shocked by the idea, tells him that if he wants to do something to make her happy, the only thing he can do is get her husband out of prison. On that retort, things seem to go back to normal… Or have they? Strange men begin visiting the house, and every day Mr. Kinsky is off somewhere selling some piece of furniture or another… What in the world could he be up to?
I know that we are usually more “struck” by films with big flashy special effects but that’s not all it takes. There are different kinds of “being struck”. This film touches ones heart with its closeness to real life. The minimal dialogue does not stick out; in fact chances are you won’t even notice it as such until you think about it afterwards. I mean think about it, if you are a person living on your own without too many friends, you don’t actually talk that much… So we have a completely realistic picture of Shanduray’s content if rather lonely life. And then there is the silence Mr. Kinsky, unable for the most part to give voice to his emotions except with the help of his trusty piano. The differences between the two characters are accentuated with their “signature tunes” (neither has one single tune). Shanduray loves listening to African music on the radio whereas Mr. Kinksy plays classical music on the piano. Like a lot of people suffering from unrequited love, Mr. Kinsky finds it hard to talk to Shanduray, even though technically she’s his cleaning lady. So the silences and the general lack of communication between them at times speak volumes. The lack of words however, does nothing to hide his silent desperation and then his quiet determination as he goes about his mystery duty. The other good thing about the film is that we are generally limited to Shanduray’s view of things. So, with her, and only when she gets the opportunity to do so can we speculate as to what on earth Mr. Kinsky is doing. Later in the film we do get a few “omniscient” shots – where we follow Mr. Kinsky around a bit – but generally speaking this is Shanduray’s film. And it is a film about the silent screams, the silent siege of feelings pressing themselves on her heart and soul… But that’s usually the way with feelings, eh? Sneaking off without so much as a word of warning… A deep and beautiful film, for those in the mood for something different.