A Saving Sound

I recently watched Netflix’s adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s award winning novel All the Light We Cannot See, which depicts the deeds of a blind girl living in Nazi-occupied France, Marie-Laure LeBlanc.

Among the many standout features of the story, one that really shone through in my watching of the series was the depiction of beauty pushing through and triumphing over brutality, particularly the brutality meted out by the war and the German Army, all of which is encapsulated in the gemstone hunting SS officer antagonist, Reinhold von Rumpel.

While many Frenchmen battle against the Nazis using guns and grenades, Marie-Laure’s weapon of choice is a radio frequency, through which she broadcasts her readings of passages from Moby Dick. These broadcasts provide a literary haven to listeners seeking a reprieve from the din of bombs and guns. However, to a select few of those listeners, these readings are also coded messages giving away Nazi positions in the town of St. Malo.

The strategic nature of these broadcasts notwithstanding, the radio frequency is significant for another reason. It was the frequency through which, many years before, an unknown professor gave science lessons to children. Through those lessons, the Professor relays to the children the beauty of the world, images of beauty that would sustain both Marie-Laure and another protagonist, Werner Pfennig, as Europe becomes plunged into the cauldron of totalitarianism and war. Though long since silent, those broadcasts by the professor reverberate through the lives of the hero and heroine of the story, as each tries to outlive the bullets, schrapnel and destruction given out so freely by the Second World War.

In so doing, each becomes a carrier of a light through the darkness of this period of history, a light ignited by the professor and, because it was sent through the radio, was more audial and visual.

I deeply appreciated the beauty of the tale, the excellent portrayals of the characters both good and bad, and the clever use of the radio as the centrepiece and driver for the narrative.

Part of the reason why I found the story significant is that, without meaning to do so in so many words, it is a gorgeous portrayal of the operation of faith as a sustaining force where occasions for faith appear to have been wiped out.

For me, this was especially evident in the use of the radio broadcasts that bring hope to scores of listeners. It reminded me of that passage in Romans (10:17), which focuses on the key role that sound, and the faculty of hearing plays for germinating faith. For Paul, faith comes from hearing, especially hearing the word of Christ.

While the name of Christ is not mentioned in the series or the book, the theme of faith (the belief in unseen things) as a sustaining force is never far away. The theme is given a particular emphasis in Marie-Laure who, because she is blind, can only navigate the world of sound. That theme also becomes particularly potent in the characters that are able to see and struggle to find the light of faith, but are guided by the invisible light shone by a blind girl.

For these and for many other reasons, I recommend All The Light We Cannot See to you. A blessed Pasch to all.

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