Soundless (Lautlos)

Mennan Yapo (2003 )

Germany

Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Crime

Soundless, made by German-Turkish director Mennan Yapo, is a film that entirely avoids 'the burden of representation'. Soundless is a slick thriller that has been compared to the French cinéma de look, notably Luc Besson's Nikita. Since Yapo does not follow the footsteps of most German-Turkish directors and since his film does not engage with the experience of Turkish immigrants in Germany, it is generally overlooked in the context of migrant and diasporic cinema. 

Professional assassin Viktor (Joachim Król) is the silent angel of death, always carrying out his job with ice-cold precision. Once again, he has killed a man who was being carefully watched by the police. However, in the bed of the victim lies a woman, Nina, who isn't on Viktor's hit list. As he points the gun at her she starts to hum a lullaby in her sleep. The melody breaks through to his inner silence, and he moves away sparing her life. The next day, Nina, dazed and overwhelmed by the man's murder, leaps from a birdge into the river. Viktor, who has been following her, jumps in to save her life and makes the biggest mistake possible in his line of work: he falls in love. As the two lonely souls slowly begin to grow closer, Viktor's well-ordered life starts to fall apart. Viktor doesn't know if he can trust Nina with his true identity. but he is ready to risk everythin for his love - although the noose around his neck is tightening by the minute…. (summary from 7th Festival of German Films, London, 2004) 

Posted by Daniela Berghahn on 19 Apr 2006 •

Next entry: Tour Abroad (Auslandstournee)

Previous entry: Lola + Bilidikid