The Silence Between Two Thoughts

Running time: N/A

North American Premiere. Inspired in part by the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, The Silence Between Two Thoughts is a remarkable, austere, provocative film. It is also an astonishing and important film. In a remote village in an unspecified land, a fundamentalist Haji's decree that a young woman be executed is halted because "criminals must go to hell, but an executed virgin will go to heaven." However, the Haji is determined that his sentence be carried out, so he orders the executioner to marry the young woman, thus making him both her husband and her potential executioner. The young man finds himself in a moral, philosophical and religious quagmire, stranded in the silence between two thoughts, as much a prisoner of the Haji's rulings as is the young woman. The film, director Payami's third (after his highly successful Secret Ballot), "addresses the dilemma of a people whose religious beliefs are exploited to rule them. But the film offers a humanistic view of a violent and tragic situation." The negatives for this astonishing film were confiscated by the Iranian authorities even before the film was completed. This version was painfully reconstructed from computer tapes by the director in exile. The Silence Between Two Thoughts is the epitome of the Maverick Spirit on every level conceivable and is a must see for any serious film aficionado. - Charlie Cockey