A mix of flashback and the present world have been woven beautifully to create a journey of a woman who is way into her old age. Manas Sahoo in his documentary ‘The Voice of Silence’ does a good job of expressing what a widowed woman might go through, in her last stages of life.The silent documentary has been inspired by Manas’ grandfather, a dramatist himself who was also suffering from ‘insanity’ (as explained in the intro of the documentary) in his later stage of life. The main protagonist of the documentary is Manas’ grandmother (Kaberi) whose journey is shown, from adolescence to the end, that is death.Shot in a typical Odia rural setting fits in the protagonist well and convinces the viewer. Throughout the movie, Krishna is calling Kaberi to come with him to the other world. A few minutes into the documentary, begin flashbacks that are a bit confusing, but they start making sense after two to three flashbacks. It’s about Kaveri remembering her hey days with Krishna, their wedding plans and how Krishna assures her that they would marry in the next full moon night.The flashbacks, where Manas himself plays the role of Krishna, are well done with the young female actor also doing a good job. But few of the scenes lack the proper linking and an audience can be left fumbling trying to piece the ends together. One of them was where Krishna, gets beaten up and right after that the insanity steps in. This being one of the important scenes of the documentary, more screen space and better detailing could have done wonders.It is never clear in the scene why Krishna gets beaten up. Nor is it clear why Kaberi sees people looking at her with vices in their eyes and have a devilish laughter in a group. These two scenes can be the weakness of the documentary. And like the director explains in the intro how the movie was inspired from his grandmother tending to his grandfather during his insanity, there could have been a few more scenes in the movie that showed that aspect of his grandmother’s life.
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