Birdsong (El Cant dels ocells)

Albert Serra

Spain 2008 | 98 min | 35 mm | colour, b&w | 1:1,85 | Capricci Films
catalan and hebrew version, czech and english subtitles

Story of three wise men from the East coming to honor newly born Jesus is Albert Serra’s open-frame inspiration with the biblical event. His minimalist “desert” movie is surprisingly out-of-date especially in the way the characters express their spirituality. They are meeting angels, talk to God, and bow in front of Jesus. This black and white highly stylized movie arose from thirty pages of improvised screenplay reportedly written in three days. The roles of three kings were cast by Serrat’s father and two neighbors from his native village. Joseph was assigned to editor in chief of the Canadian film magazine Cinema Scope. Spontaneous film Birdsong (the title derives from the only composition used in the movie) tells a story of religious experience through elimination of any artistic refinement. The movie almost reaches the primitivism of Rossellini’s Fran­cis or Pasolini’s The Gospel.