Film reviews
The Tribe - Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I had high hopes for this movie. The idea of ‘no dialogue’ silent films never truly appealed to me. So the thought of a completely silent film; deprived of non-diegetic sounds, wasn’t highly persuasive either. However, the countless reviews raving about the stunning, enigmatic entrancement of this film allured me to give it a chance. I jumped into the unnerving and abysmal rabbit hole that is ‘The Tribe’. I can’t pretend it was an easy watch, I found it tedious to begin with and to follow completely was a strain at times.My patience was definitely tested. Slaboshpytskiy’s intentions were, as the film progressed, outlined in a way I wasn’t expecting. I left the film speechless, ironic in a film without spoken words. The mise en scene, and cinematography, along with the well planned and executed narrative, left me ambiguous to the true message behind the film. The absence of sound and subtitles, replaced by the reliance on body language, and the occasional melancholy moans; makes for an undeniably unique and unspokenly eerie watch. ‘The Tribe’ is an exceptionally stunning and provocative film. Hastily, climbing the ladder with much accolade in the Sundance and Cannes film festivals; just like Grigoriy Fesenko - compelling as a main actor, climbing the social ranks of the mafia within the film.
Set in a Ukrainian school for the deaf, a merciless mafia type ‘tribe’ facilitates and is involved in acts of great horror. [Spoiler’s ahead] Sergey, a young deaf boy begins to climb the rungs within this ring of terror and destruction; home abortions, prostitution and violence turn a traditionally simple narrative of boy meets girl into something so much more revealing. As one step into the hole, sends Sergey tumbling into a relentless circle ring of crime, love, hate and explicit terror the rawness of human nature is exposed.
One can often be seen to shut their eyes to an unpleasant sight, however this wasn’t the case; the clanks of surgical equipment, alongside Anya’s [Yana Novikova] pained screams made parts of the film almost unbearable to hear. But you just can’t pull away. Emotionally, I felt riddled with revulsion, the implied explicit ideas were challenging to say the least. The level of impact was much more than I anticipated. The thumps, clanks and unrestrained moans; heightened by the lack of ambient noise. In saying this, the film has an undeniable beauty to it’s craft. The silence allows room for real thought, if a light watch is what you’re after, I’m afraid this is the wrong film for you. Where the usual loud and overpowering diegetic sound from blockbuster films alienates us from what is really going on; the enhancement of sound allows structures touching, colliding as love is made or hate is displayed to be understood on a deeper level.
Spiraling down, disorientated in direction, the narrative took many twists and turns. The true message behind the film is ambiguous, I can’t stop thinking about it. Compelling is an understatement, and one could not deny its fascination when viewing this grim, explicit and stunning film. The raw emotion, physical empathy and pain made a potential ‘cocktail’ for disaster. This film could have turned into another cliche ‘boy saves girl’ hollywood movie; but there is something strikingly different about it. There’s no way to give an accurate synopsis’ of ‘The Tribe’, as no explanations can quite pinpoint Myroslav’s creative genius. The way humans are exposed at the core: raw, naked and cruel; confronts us, we see what we are truly capable of as the dialogue is stripped away leaving nothing but flesh and innate instinct to be devoured. “By removing the verbal components of how civilisation works, we got rid of all the barriers and constraints, and exposed human nature in this prehistoric way”, Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, 25th of May 2015, Dazed Journal.
Documentary Cinematographer Valentyn Vasyanovych, allows no room for escape. His long, slow, European style pacing with the average shot stretching to a startling 11 minutes creates uncomfortable, and hauntingly, audacious explicit viewing. With daunting locations aiding the film's grim, and abysmal vibe. This film isn’t for the faint hearted, tearing at emotions; like a child rips grass strands from lush grassy banks. Painfully, empathy is a very real and intense result of this chilling film.
Slaboshpytskiy’s film is easily one of the most moving, thought provoking motion pictures I have to date. It propels the genre of silent films into somewhere radically new as the scope and ambition of this narrative push it forward, in a way that doesn’t require explanation; because love and hatred don’t need translation.