The Whisper of Silence (El Suspiro del Silencio)

A blood-soaked Josefina (Laura Osma) and flashbacks hint at a dark episode her life, in this promising (award winning) debut from writer and director Alfonso Quijada, and the first film from El Salvador to receive a general release in the UK.

Josefina works in the coffee fields on the slopes and jungle deep inside El Salvador with her godmother and brother. She catches the coffee tasters, assessing the coffee one day through smell and taste, that kindles her desire to be one. It’s not that straightforward but Josefina’s enthusiasm, desire to learn plus a remarkable sense of smell, the powers that be agree to give her a chance. Which she grabs.

Domestically matters are difficult. She desperately misses her late mother and her younger brother Alfredo (William Castill), a once promising student, has got himself involved with local villains, and given up school. That leads to an attempted burglary with him caught and beaten-up, one of his accomplices is shot dead.

It’s a tragedy and a disaster that could undermine Josefina’s ambitions, with Alfredo jailed. But with the support of her godmother (the siblings legal guardian) plus advice and help, Josefina begins to realise her dream, and the opportunities.

Filmed in the widest of widescreen ratio, the film can at times be difficult to take in however Quijada just about gets away with if it using the framing well in particular the wide-open spaces of the landscape and also the more sensitive moments.

The pace is slow (not glacial) though holds the attention throughout as the story and strands develop. Quijada doesn’t overplay the social issues of poverty, criminality and violence in El Salvador itself, they are all too well known. The film’s ultimate brief is much wider, though will be as familiar and just as depressing.

The cast are excellent with Osma sensitively playing a modestly ambitious woman making the best of a rare talent, while living with a terrible secret, and trying to keep her brother on the right side of the law. All taken together The Whisper of Silence is a fine film that carefully threads positivity and optimism with the bleakest of issues.

Bulldog Film Distribution presents The Whisper of Silence on digital HD 27 March.