Cinema LatinXperience: Mexico: STELLET LICHT

So far in this series we have highlighted Cumbia music in the barrios of Monterrey and seen differences of class and race within the bustle of Mexico City. This week, we are taken to the rural countryside of Chihuahua where our film presents the moral contemplations of a religious man. We dive head first into the ethnic-religious group known as Mennonites. 

Somewhat similar to the Amish, Mennonites are a fundamentalist group originally from Holland. In the face of persecution, the Mennonites fled to Russia and then migrated to Canada in the 1870’s. When Canada began imposing rules on education inside Mennonite schools, Mennonites were then invited to relocate to Mexico in 1922. What we see in the film is a colony that has been living in northwestern Mexico for nearly a century and it is estimated that the Cuahtémoc settlement is home to about 90% of the Mennonite population living in all of Mexico. 

Silent Light is set in present day, and when we are first introduced to Johan and his family at their kitchen table, we find clothing, household items, and cookware quite unfamiliar to contemporary times; this community is an isolated one with its own language and way of life. Save for a few lines of dialogue, the film is in Plautdietsch, a dialect of low German with influences of Dutch. It is something to mention that this is Mexico’s first non-Spanish film submitted to the Academy in competition for the Best Foreign Language Film. 

Director Carlos Reygadas employed a cast of real life Mennonites with whom he developed a trusting relationship, thus allowing the film to be made. Miriam Toews, who plays Johan’s wife Esther, is a Mennonite and novelist from Manitoba, Canada. She assisted Reygadas in strengthening the bond and comfortability between cast and crew. And in addition to writing a novel in 2012, Ima Voth, which was inspired by Toews’ experience on set, she is an advocate for speaking out against sexual abuse in the Mennonite community. 

Mennonites are known for their skills in agriculture and contribute significantly to the state of Chihuahua’s economy, however, narco-cartel related conflicts and disputes over resources have caused some Mennonites to leave Mexico. In the 2010’s, some Mennonites returned to Canada while others have made their way to other settlements established in other Latin American countries, such as Argentina or in Bolivia. 

While this group of people is not native to Mexico, 100 years of history can be considered both a short and long period of time. People adapt to their environment. So even though Mennonites in Mexico have had relatively little contact with their host, they have cultivated the land. Their experiences are uniquely their own and unlike those which are experienced by Mennonites elsewhere in the world. This film is but a glimpse into the Mennonite story in Mexico.