"Once upon a time there was a city without a voice. Somebody had taken away the voices of all its inhabitants. Many, many years went by and nobody seemed bothered by the silence."
The NPS couldn't have chosen a better moment to broadcast the Argentinian movie La Antena (the aerial) than after the news of Geert Wilders (Dutch' politician) brought to court for his criticism of the Islam. Where The Netherlands once was a country where freedom of speech was one of our highest values times seems to be changing. Especially his comparison of the Quran and the book Mein Kampf was taken as an offense for the muslim society in The Netherlands. The claim that Wilders spreads hate and is guilty of discrimination is far overrated though. Opinions should be spoken out even if they are not so sharming, they can become a ground for debate. I hate to see our once open society to become like this. Do people really think that limiting the freedom of expression will lead to a more harmonious society?
Luckily Denmark gave better response to the rumours concerning their cartoonist.
Reflexive, allegorical and poetic, La Antena is a dizzyingly dense piece of cinema, thriving on paradox, and always matching its medium to its message. Though I do not consider `La Antena' as a master piece, it is definitely worth watching (I rate it 6.6/10). And luckily it leaves us with some beautiful statements.
"They have taken our voices but we still have words"
