Raw, brutal, without dialogue or sub-titles and a sensation at Cannes. Sergey is a newbie at a Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf and mute. Within hours of arriving at the school he is promptly and severely bullied by other students. He fights back and is rewarded by becoming part of the gang. He commits his fair share of robberies, pimping and vicious shake-downs without remorse or regret. This is until he becomes enamored with Anna, a fellow student by day and part of his pimping responsibilities at night. The substantial troubles and desperations of these young students is treated with shocking indifference, selfishness and disturbing disconnection by everyone involved. The lack of words puts the audience deeper into the emotions of the characters. The film adeptly and brilliantly provides the experience as if one is standing in their shoes. I fled with them in the night, wandered through abandoned carnival rides and truck stops with them, and felt their desperation and hunger to survive in the face of a society that abandons them. Slow moving yet with power and impact that is deeply felt. Seen at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Review of The Tribe
