Wondrous is the silence of my master

The enigmatic title already sets the mood of this little masterpiece. As the opening text explains, the work is inspired by a series of rather hermetic 19th Century manuscripts, found in entirely unusual circumstances, hard to discern, attributed to a servant named Djuko. 

On the backdrop of the Ottoman occupation of the balkans, when a small enclave of tribes resisted in the mountains of Montenegro, the film describes the journey of a master, Morlak; a ruler, man of knowledge and wisdom, of an almost mystical connotation, he is accompanied by Djuko and his servants in Italy, for a medical therapy. During the journey, Djuko slowly understands himself the true extents of  his master's expertise.

Expertly balancing a sense of mystical wonder and a historical subtext, the film describes the large discrepancy between the rural areas of Montenegro and the rest of Europe during the 19th Century, the roots of that same sense of otherness with which the West had depicted the balkans, but also explores the concept of hierarchy, of the ethic standard that rulers self-appoint and that their subjects attribute them, seldom without actual merit. The fascination for this master, an intellectual that escapes the interpretation ofthe other characters, encapsulates the film in its larger sense.

The silence and mystery of Wondrous is the silence of my master, together with the electronic music score, the visual compositions that remind of the paintings of Ingres, contribute to an atmosphere of suspended time that allows the time to wonder, to question, to discern, even when the film leaves no clues, but instead offers moments of pure visual poetry that distantly echo Parajanov - though the visual language is different, distinct, the imagery is its own.

Much like the historical setting of the film, everything about Wondrous is the silence of my master feels out of time, ethereal. It is a sort of cinema that plunges deep without exposing its depth (perhaps sometimes remaining too hermetic), a work of eclectic meaning.

RATING: 4.5/5

Original title: Otapanje vladara

Directed by: Ivan Salatić

Country: Montenegro

Year: 2025

Length: 93 min.

Premiere: Rotterdam Film Festival 2025