Before Night Comes – Antigone Speech, is a visually presented famous Sophocles’ tragedy – Antigone. Poetical and ominous short film that is dark in its nature. The director (Joaquim Pavão) did a wonderful job in presenting the suffering of Antigone. Absence of light, the hellish body language, buried alive in the dirt enhanced the emotional sensations of the watcher. Great narrator was for some too fast for some just as narration should be like.
Amazing acting (Isabel Fernandes Pinto) almost started transferring Antigone’s pain and suffering to the public, and made them think again about the great Sophocles’ masterpiece.
Antigone is religious, and she wants to decently bury her brother Polynices (Rui Pena), but the tyrant ruler Creon forbids it. The film artistically represents the psychological and ethical conflict both of the society and Antigone as an individual.
Antigone contradicts Creon’s order and decides to bury her brother by the Greek commons. She is aware that she will be punished, but she does not care about endangering her life. Her decision was fatal. Creon gave the order to bury her alive in the tomb of kings. The brought decisions she defends by the common sense, having no children, no husband, she doesn’t have anything to regret for. In the verses her strength will could be easily spotted. Like anyone who is different than the majority of the society, she is strong but lonely.
Antigone is idealized by her faith, love and unselfishness, and doesn’t care about the possible consequences of her deeds. Her speech colorizes her suffering. She is full of sorrow because she is going to die young, unmarried and without any friends and family to mourn her death. Hemon (Claudinei Garcia) was Creon’s son, he begged his father for mercy considering that the God’s laws above his fathers, but in vain. He was engaged to Antigone.
Main problematic of the Sophocles’ tragedy and this short film is the conflict between godlike and humanlike values. In the antic time it was believed that the soul of the deceased will be at calm if the body is covered in dust. It is not worthy to die because of morale and serving the society because the family is the most important and will always be there for you. One will be more likely abandoned by the society than one’s family. The majority of us is willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their family.
It is easy to use Antigone’s words, but many of us would endlessly think what and how should we do the thing that happened to her.
The art is a spiritual medicine that we consume in order to be healed from the bad things in our lives, everybody in their own way. This short film indeed represents one of the best medicines of that kind. The film has a great mind, spirit, talent, sense and sensibility and fantasy. It is wonderful how the most negative of human emotions can be the cause of such a beautiful art.