Your
guide in English to films showing in Germany.
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Øystein Mamen | Norway | 2024
Norwegian filmmaker Øystein Mamen presents a documentary involving four male prison inmates who choose to enter into a Christian based silent retreat program within the prison in his latest film PUNISHMENT. Mamen is allowed to be a fly-on-the-wall, so to speak, with his camera rolling to observe the experiences of these four individuals incarcerated in Norway’s Halden Maximum Security Prison throughout a three-week silent retreat program.
During these specific weeks, the men are led by two prison chaplains in order to face their past, what provoked them to their actions, the reality of their crimes, and where it has led them. One purpose of the introspective retreat is to give an opportunity for them to move forward.
The chaplains have three main themes they focus on with the men: Love, Evil, and Mercy. Each one of the men are convicted of murder, and in order to move forward, they must grapple with their road to forgiveness.
The men embark on a personal journey using the help of specific exercises, tasks, and meditative reflections to discover who they are and what they want to become. Mamen uses the imagery of a mirror to describe the effects of their personal journey, as they look into the mirror, they must discover who they see and who they want to see looking back at them.
Mamen directs a narrative using black and white film footage, at a very slow pace, that allows visual anonymity in order for them to self-reflect, ponder upon many personal issues, and be totally immersed in the purpose of silence.
Mamen says of his film PUNISHMENT, “It evolves into a prism of gauging the existential landscape of the convicted as we observe each man taking these steps, looking beyond the question of religious belief to their belief about themselves and their worthiness of redemption.” Mamen’s film will ponder the question, “How do ethical exercises, rituals, and communal silence affect us?”