Silence of the Tides

Beautiful shots of many aspects of life inside and around the Wadden sea, a unique tidal area. Stunning cinematic vistas and a varied glimpse into the rural culture of the people living there. Sometimes an almost meditative experience accompanied by droning organ music, highly recommended to see on the big screen.

"Silence of the tides" is a documentary about the Wadden region. The Wadden region is a unique wedland, one of the biggest in the World. It consists of a Dutch, German and Danish part. I was well acquinted with the Dutch part because of many holidays spent in this region. It was nice to get to know the German and Danish part a little better. The central word in this documetary is rythm. Rythm between ebb and flow. Rhytm between the seasons of the year. Rhytm between birth and death. With respect to the last we see the birth and slaughter of a lamb, but also a baptism and a funeral in a Church on a German Wadden island. This illustrates another aspect of the documentary, the balanced mix between nature, animals and humans. So far I called the film a documentary. That would certainly have aggrieved the director. He tried his best to avoid characteristic documentary elements. There is no voice over. The problem with a voice over is that different spectators have a different levels of knowledge about the subject. Also a voice over easiy becomes pedantic. The cameraposition is static, there is no camera movement. Cameramovements, such as zooming in, focus attention on a specific area of the image. With a static camera it is up to the spectator on which area of the image to focus his / her attention. There are however beautiful time lapse montages to stress the difference between ebb and flow. The horizon is placed in the upper part of the frame. The emphasis is on the capricious plains of the Wadden Sea. In his documentary "Dutch light" (2003), about (among other things) Dutch painters from the 17th century, director Pieter Rim de Kroon placed the horizon low in the frame to put emphasis on the sky. Initially the film would also be without filmmusic, only natural sounds. Filmmusic would manipulate the emotions of the spectators too much. It is in this respect that de Kroon made some compromises. During the making of the film he met Birgit Wildeman, an organist from one of the German Wadden Islands. Eventually she made some music to capture the mood of the sea and the islands. The film has no storyline, but with Birgit Wildeman it does have an anchorwoman. The other two anchormen are Johann Petersen as postman Hanni and Jan van Rees as the Dutch vessel traffic operator. Postman Hanni almost makes you believe you are watching a Bela Tarr movie.

For me this movie gave a great peek into a part of the world to which I live close by, 'de Wadden'. I used to come to the Zeedijk (Sea Front) quite often when I was young, but never knew there was so much going on behind the Dykes. Like I said, this movies gives us an intimate peek into the tides of the Wadden Sea and what the changing of the tides brings. Great time lapses I have never seen before and animals both below and above sea level were brought to us visually and audibly as never before in all their beauty. Nevertheless, I did not completely understand the *silence* in the movies title, as there were quite some upsetting images among most of the beauty and amazement the movie had to offer us. Personally I could do without the cruelty that was shown and had expected more of a connection between one image and another, like a thread weaving all the separate images together if you will. It seemed to me more a summary of all that goes on and can be observed in this region, not much more. Somehow I hoped for more of a connecting element or something, which is why I only give it 7 out of 10 stars.

"Silence of the tides" is a documentary about the Wadden region. The Wadden region is a unique wedland, one of the biggest in the World. It consists of a Dutch, German and Danish part. I was well acquinted with the Dutch part because of many holidays spent in this region. It was nice to get to know the German and Danish part a little better. The central word in this documetary is rythm. Rythm between ebb and flow. Rhytm between the seasons of the year. Rhytm between birth and death. With respect to the last we see the birth and slaughter of a lamb, but also a baptism and a funeral in a Church on a German Wadden island. This illustrates another aspect of the documentary, the balanced mix between nature, animals and humans. So far I called the film a documentary. That would certainly have aggrieved the director. He tried his best to avoid characteristic documentary elements. There is no voice over. The problem with a voice over is that different spectators have a different levels of knowledge about the subject. Also a voice over easiy becomes pedantic. The cameraposition is static, there is no camera movement. Cameramovements, such as zooming in, focus attention on a specific area of the image. With a static camera it is up to the spectator on which area of the image to focus his / her attention. There are however beautiful time lapse montages to stress the difference between ebb and flow. The horizon is placed in the upper part of the frame. The emphasis is on the capricious plains of the Wadden Sea. In his documentary "Dutch light" (2003), about (among other things) Dutch painters from the 17th century, director Pieter Rim de Kroon placed the horizon low in the frame to put emphasis on the sky. Initially the film would also be without filmmusic, only natural sounds. Filmmusic would manipulate the emotions of the spectators too much. It is in this respect that de Kroon made some compromises. During the making of the film he met Birgit Wildeman, an organist from one of the German Wadden Islands. Eventually she made some music to capture the mood of the sea and the islands. The film has no storyline, but with Birgit Wildeman it does have an anchorwoman. The other two anchormen are Johann Petersen as postman Hanni and Jan van Rees as the Dutch vessel traffic operator. Postman Hanni almost makes you believe you are watching a Bela Tarr movie.

Beautiful shots of many aspects of life inside and around the Wadden sea, a unique tidal area. Stunning cinematic vistas and a varied glimpse into the rural culture of the people living there. Sometimes an almost meditative experience accompanied by droning organ music, highly recommended to see on the big screen.

For me this movie gave a great peek into a part of the world to which I live close by, 'de Wadden'. I used to come to the Zeedijk (Sea Front) quite often when I was young, but never knew there was so much going on behind the Dykes. Like I said, this movies gives us an intimate peek into the tides of the Wadden Sea and what the changing of the tides brings. Great time lapses I have never seen before and animals both below and above sea level were brought to us visually and audibly as never before in all their beauty. Nevertheless, I did not completely understand the *silence* in the movies title, as there were quite some upsetting images among most of the beauty and amazement the movie had to offer us. Personally I could do without the cruelty that was shown and had expected more of a connection between one image and another, like a thread weaving all the separate images together if you will. It seemed to me more a summary of all that goes on and can be observed in this region, not much more. Somehow I hoped for more of a connecting element or something, which is why I only give it 7 out of 10 stars.