reviewerB Review of The Silence of the Sky

The Silence of the Sky (2016)

Enjoyable and intelligent suspense/drama, with one particular flaw

[7/10 · 23 November 2017]

This is a pretty decent suspenseful drama. I love Argentinian thrillers and have watched quite a few with Leonardo Sbaraglia on them. He's indeed a great actor, which is, in tandem, an asset and a downfall of this movie. Sbaraglia is so good that he completely outshines Brazilian actress Carolina Dieckmann, whose work I've seen many times in soap operas. I understand that she's playing a rape victim and that that experience can really traumatize a person. I also understand that this movie is about silence, about what we do not say, but Dieckmann's lack of depth did not strike me as part of the plot. Why so monotone, monosyllabic and, dare I say, monofacial? Is it because Spanish is not her native language? If so, being a Brazilian myself, I'm really surprised that she could not memorize longer lines in Spanish and did not dare to open a wider mouth in order to pronounce them. It is not that difficult for a Brazilian to learn Spanish. In the movie, it was established from the beginning that her character was not Uruguayan (where the story takes place), so there was no need to hide her accent. Then why speak so little? They even gave her a Brazilian co-worker so that Dieckmann could speak a little more, in Portuguese obviously. When Dieckmann substitutes Sbaraglia as the narrator (also in Portuguese), the movie almost runs off the tracks. I can only guess she had a lot of difficulty learning the lines in Spanish and delivering them convincingly. It's a pity. We've seen many actresses and actors learn a new language for a movie and almost master its accent. We've seen many professionals transform their entire bodies for a character. It seems to me that this is a matter of how seriously you're willing to take your job. Sbaraglia himself wasn't afraid to look hideous and to behave like a disgusting asshole in El Otro Hermano. So, Dieckmann has a gorgeous face, but in this movie she completely lacked a personality. I'm sorry to say that this could have been a great film, if they had cast a more suitable actress for the part of Diana. On a brighter note, very watchable, enjoyable and intelligent suspense/drama, that gets you thinking about fear, identity, relationships, sharing, trusting, hiding and the extreme measures one is capable of taking.