Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: SONGS OF ADAM [Red Sea International Film Festival 2024 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia]
The aspect of immortality is baked into a notion of wish fulfillment or perhaps an inability to understand the greater strife of perhaps living a normal life. With "Songs Of Adam" (Competition), the simple wish to not grow old becomes a path of ruin and being an outcast. Set in Iraq, Adam never runs away from his gift (or affliction). When he is young, he just doesn't understand (and neither does his village). His father pushes to lock him away (as he believes Adam is possessed by the devil and needs to be cleansed in a way). His mother is upset but the father sends her back to her tribe. The film begins in 1946 while making its way up to the early 1990s or later. It is interesting seeing the time frame in the arena change very gradually and subtly. As his father slips away and the people Adam knows get older, Adam seems replete to stay in his own innocence and not grow up. He wants to hang with his two brothers, who move away, come back, try to change him and eventually move on. But he never sees them as old, just different. There are definitely some distinctly interesting moments. Adam goes to see a woman who used to be a playmate when she was a child. Now she is a mother. He wants her to come out and search for kindling and the way she reacts and the scene plays is a very precise piece of directing.
It is a very subtle scene but also shows exactly why Adam is out of touch and out of time. One of his brothers returns home sick but also disappears to see some gypsies. What is interesting is how some people condescend Adam even though he is older while others hold him in reverance without asking too much. The movie plays with interesting concepts not necessarily of mortality (though that figures into it) but of perception. A gypsy girl is fascinated by Adam perhaps seeing an opportunity or possibility to push or inherit his gift. That dichotomy is interesting because the gypsies see it as a help and not a hindrance. As times grow older and one of his brothers is old and near death as is his cousin (whom he originally gathered kindling with), it becomes about time (not necessarily contemplation) with Adam. This makes the final scene with its simple tradition and quietness all the more powerful. "Songs Of Adam" is not about bells and whistles, just a simple story of a boy simply stuck in his own time. He is not vengeful. He is not opportunistic. He just is. Adam exists in his own time. B+
By Tim Wassberg
