Could I Survive the ‘Quietest Place on Earth’? New Documentary Looks Back on a World Without Sound
How does one survive in a country without a natural outlet to the outside world and, at the same time, retain the hope to keep their culture alive? That is the question the film Before the Flood poses.
While the film’s premise could sound far-fetched, the story of the crew of the Titanic has been inspiring many. The documentary, which tells the story of a group of people who were shipwrecked in Ireland while searching for the last surviving survivor on the ship, tells a story which resonates not only with Irish-Americans, but many other groups as well. There are several things about the film which show the importance of making our culture relevant to the world. One of them is the way the crew of the Titanic stayed alive despite having no natural outlet to the outside world.
Another thing which proves the importance of how we relate to the world outside is the fact that the film depicts the plight of the ship’s crew in a way which allows viewers to make up their own mind as to whether they would stay alive or die in the water.
A lot has been said about the loss of culture, but not much has been said about the loss of culture through lack of access to the outside world. Without access to something which has made them who they are, or at the very least something which served as an outlet to the world around them, groups like the Titanic crew are left to their own devices.
This is what makes the story of the Titanic crew so compelling. The film makes this point by starting with the story of the crew of the Titanic and not with the story of Captain Sullenberger. Sullenberger’s story is very different from the Titanic story, but the film highlights how an outsider looking in would not know what it means to be a citizen of a country where one has no natural outlet other than what one is afforded
