Review: 'Hidden Letters'
Heartfelt documentary examines the manifold power of a secret language
I’ve discussed before my fascination with the way language has been utilised in many fictional films as of late, where it can be such a potent storytelling device, seen clearly in this year’s Decision to Leave, for example. Violet Du Feng’s wonderful new documentary Hidden Letters examines language and its potency in a generation-spanning context, where the secret language of Nushu creates a bond between women against a patriarchal society.
Ostensibly, we are here to learn about Nushu, and Hidden Letters certainly delivers on this in spades. Introducing us to this traditional writing system in the Hunan region of China, we get some interesting insight into the language itself and its modes of preservation. As a language lesson it is effective, but where it goes several steps further is how it cleverly uses it to interrogate the ways in which this secret language is upheld by a patriarchal culture as means of traditional control. Much ‘mansplaining’ is performed by male figures as they try to articulate Nushu as a by-product and manifestation of outmoded traditions. And in turn, this contrasts against the core of the film where it hones in one women who are bonded by their fascination with this very language, and utilise it in different ways to express themselves and carve their own paths in a culture that is often against them.
Artfully shot with a camera that slides and glides along with these women as it follows their paths, one ends up learning about these women as much as the language they embrace. The way in which the secret language transcends all sorts of barriers as a way for them to find support and pave a future path becomes quietly, covertly powerful the more time spent with them. Hidden Letters thoughtfully, delicately lets you into this little world of interest they’ve created, and invests you in it wholly.
Hidden Letters will be released in UK cinemas on 2nd December and in select US cinemas on 9th December