Film Moments: Sound Of Metal and Stillness

Sound of Metal <2019> is about Ruben, a metal drummer, who loses his hearing.

At some point in the film, Ruben's girlfriend Lou decides to take him to a shelter for deaf recovering addicts, where they meet Joe, a Vietnam vet who runs it. Joe gives him an introduction to the philosophy by which the community runs, and says -

"But it's very important, if you want to be here, to understand that we're looking for a solution to this , and not this "

Through the film we see Ruben's rage and turbulence as he tries to solve his hearing issue, spending money he doesn't have to get cochlear implants, and working through the pain with a lot of aggression.

One scene that stayed with me is the very last one, a point in the story where everything has pretty much fallen apart. Ruben sits at a bench, listening to the sounds of the street around him through the unfamiliar and uncomfortable metal whinge of the implants. He suddenly removes the implants and looks around him. The soundtrack goes blank. We see the visuals, but hear no sound.

This is such a moving moment, because after all that upheaval, he's finally a got to that silence that Joe was talking about, and that is his little success. It's the place where he finds a moment of inner peace. Joe also says, "The world does keep moving and can be a damn cruel place. But in those moments of stillness... when this crappy and mundane world becomes radiant and magnificent, all the fear is gone. That place will never abandon you".

I love moments of stillness in films - when within a film we can viscerally experience those moments where we suddenly get pulled into the time and place the character is in. That's where life is at - in the here and now - and watching films removes us from our here and now. But to be able to inhabit a character's noticing of the world around them is quite beautiful.

From Mary Oliver: “When it’s over, I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. / I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”

The film is available to stream on Prime Video.