The Tribe (2014) User Reviews

Shocking, disturbing and truly unique

[mike_diamond · 8/10 · 26 June 2016]

The Tribe is one of the most unsettling films of the year. It is set at a boarding school for the deaf in Kiev, where anarchy prevails. There are no words, subtitles, or even a score. The hearing viewer is left to interpret the violent chaos without auditory clues, presenting a unique challenge in understanding the narrative and the motivations of the characters. We are left to confusedly construe scenarios by their actions, and as such, are provided some insight into the helpless isolation of the deaf.

As a film, The Tribe may be interpreted in various ways: as a political allegory for the Ukraine, as a discourse on communication through violence, as an allegory to the impotence experienced by minority groups, or as an exploration of enactivism in film. Regardless, there are scenes that are shockingly disturbing, and the direction is unflinching. My only conclusion is that I'm sorry deaf people, but I don't trust you anymore.

Not as good as I'd hoped, but the ending rocks!

[Jalow547 · 6/10 · 6 November 2017]

I had read about this film and wanted to see it, so I was happy to find it streaming on Netflix. The story takes place at a Ukrainian school for the deaf, and what I didn't realize until watching was that aside from a few mumbles, gasps, and background chatter, the characters speak only in Ukrainian sign language, without the use of subtitles, translations, or narration. There's not even any music, for crying out loud (although we do hear all the other sounds of the world though, doors closing and footsteps and things, the absence of which I think would have felt pretty strange).

But honestly, none of that bothered me. Not having to read subtitles let me enjoy the film in a different way. Even if you understand sign language, I didn't feel like the filmmakers went out of their way to focus on the signing. Often it took place in the distance, or the character's back would be turned or at a funny angel. There are a few scenes where it's hard to tell what they're talking about, but overall I never felt like I was missing much. The relative silence added to the experience, and I even found myself at time subconsciously thinking that I was unable to hear, kinda like when I watched The Invention of Lying on an airplane and thought that I too, like the characters in that film, was unable to tell a lie. But that was the only good thing about that movie, if you can even call it a good thing.

So, back to The Tribe. Unless you understand Ukrainian sign language, the characters' exact word choice is anyone's best guess, but the story is simple enough and told in such a way that it's easy enough to follow based on context, body language, and the things we see happening. I think it is anyway, unless I got the story totally wrong! But hey, it made enough sense to me! I may have been confused at times, but always felt like I was meant to be, like that was part of the story and the filmmakers' intention.

But the acting didn't quite cut it. I don't think any of these were professional actors, since their main requirement would have been fluency in sign language, and it really showed, despite there being no spoken dialog. They walk strangely and unnaturally, as if uncomfortable on camera, and too often stare off awkwardly in order to avoid looking at the camera. In one scene, three of the main character push their way through a crowd, but the exrtas in the scene all but ignore the annoyance, staring awkwardly straight ahead or at the ground. And one fight scene toward the start of the film almost ruined it for me. It was too clearly choreographed and looked as though the characters were dancing. Fortunately, the best bit of acting comes from our lead character, who was well-cast with his perpetually blank expression.

There are a few pretty explicit sex scenes, which didn't bother me except for the fact that, in the filmmakers' attempt to show as much as possible, it becomes pretty obvious that the sex is simulated, and the scenes are unconvincing and ineffective.

I'm typically a fan of European film with long takes, such as the ones in this film, but too often here we see doors being left open for the cameraman to enter when they would normally be closed in real life. Sometimes it's excusable, but at one point a character who is being chased on foot stops to hold the door open for the cameraman behind him. Another time, an apartment door is left open to the world while illegal activity is conducted just inside, and multiple doors throughout the film are left open to the cold outside.

This movie wasn't terrible, but the flaws, which were sometimes laughable, were too numerous to ignore. But there were a few things I loved about this film. I very much enjoyed the camera-work in general: long takes following the characters through various environments, down hills and through trees, jumping between characters. One particular scene shows separate actions occurring simultaneously in two different rooms, both visible in the same shot from the outside through adjacent windows. It was well-done and clever, but never felt gimmicky. I love stuff like that.

And I'm glad that, despite the terrible fight scene I was forced to endure, I still gave this movie a chance and stuck around to the end, because the last scene is very very good. It's one of the best endings I can remember seeing in a while. It's very effective, well-acted, well-shot, and all around well done from a technical standpoint.

Overall, I didn't love The Tribe, but I recommend it for for the ending, if for no other reason.

Enchanting visual poetry, but too chilly to connect.

[Sergeant_Tibbs · 7/10 · 20 April 2015]

2014 was a year of impressive films that utilized supposed 'gimmicks.' Boyhood had its 12 years, Birdman has its single shot, The Grand Budapest Hotel played with ratios, and The Tribe, a film that played well at film festivals without breaking out anywhere, has unsubtitled Ukrainian sign language. It's bold, and tough to get used to, but you have to subdue yourself to the fact that you will never know the details. It's kind of a shame, the beauty of film is in the details, but The Tribe has enchanting visual poetry. A lot of the film is done in long takes, often following characters from behind with steadicam leading to a separate scenario, and it's immaculately choreographed. The extent of Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's ambition exhausts itself there however, although it does have inventive A Clockwork Orange-esque brutality. There's a cold intimacy between the characters, whether it be through punches or sex, but we're not with them. It's a film that deliberately pushes the audience away by being lost in translation. With characters acting solely as archetypal figures, it lacks anything to identify with. It's such a shame because it could have been more concisely powerful rather than a purely superficial and disconnected experience. No deaf person will sleep well afterwards though, even if they don't understand the sign language. It touches a nerve there at least.

7/10

Brutal but incredible filmmaking

[trpuk1968 · 10/10 · 5 October 2014]

At the time of writing (October 2014) this is on release in France but not the UK or the US so I'll write this for the benefit of audiences elsewhere in the world who might be wondering whether to go and see it or not. When not extorting money from other students at a boarding school for the deaf in the Ukraine, the 'tribe' of thugs in the title spend their time robbing train passengers, people in the street or, with the help of their teachers, pimp each other at a truck stop. New kid Sergey arrives and falls for one of the young hookers...which is about all the synopsis you need. There's no dialogue, or subtitles, all the communication between the characters is through sign language. Along with a total absence of incidental music this has the paradoxical effect of heightening the sound...the sounds of footsteps, lorry engines revving for example becoming sinisterly effective. It's not difficult to follow the narrative at all, so don't be put off. The bleak surroundings of the institution combine with a dreary landscape of crumbling apartment blocks, supermarkets at night time in a bitter, dirty grey winter, to heighten the feeling of an amoral universe, a dog eat dog world where everyone is out only for themselves. There's no compassion, the one intimate relationship which develops seems to be motivated by lust, carnality and characterised by opportunism on either part. There doesn't appear to be any real tenderness there. Is the closed institution an allegory for the Ukraine, or human societies as a whole? The Tribe is a unique piece of cinema and inspired me to write, I've seen nothing in the last few years quite so extraordinary, but be warned it most definitely is not for the faint hearted. The violence is sickening, stomach churning, and made all the more shocking by the use of sound and absence of music since even if averting your gaze you remain all too aware of what's happening on screen, with no music to distance or make things ironic. The Tribe forces you to gaze, unblinking, into the abyss of total human depravity.

Incredibly brave film making!

[SpannersGerm669 · 7/10 · 9 September 2015]

I think anybody who appreciates cinema will be applauding the director of this movie for giving us something truly unique. For a two hour film to keep someone gripped, without any spoken dialogue or subtitles to guide us, shows the power of the good old fashioned visual storytelling. The movie tells the brutal story of a boy trying to fit in, in a boarding school for the deaf. Graphic sex scenes, brutal violence, and an overwhelming sense of dread, combine to make this a very uncomfortable viewing experience. Unfortunately i felt some scenes were dragged out unnecessarily, which prevented it from being the masterpiece thats said to be. I think cutting it shorter than 2 hours would have greatly benefited it, because there were a few occasions where the specific scene made its point, but hung around longer than its welcome. Not a masterpiece, but certainly an intriguing and unique look into the future of film making!

Raw, Brutal, True

[Blue-Grotto · 10/10 · 12 October 2014]

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.

THE SILENCE SAYS VOLUMES...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 5 July 2018]

The Tribe hit my radar a while back when I heard about the novelty of a film being silent in the world of the hearing impaired in a foreign country w/no subtitles in existence. What is essentially a silent film made in the digital age, eschews themes we've seen in other cinematic rites of passage w/silent thieves on the make all the time going from one score to the next. One wonders if the bleakness depicted translates to other schools of impairment around the world where the easy way out of dealing w/adversity is to turn to a life of crime. The choice of an non-subtitled version really puts the onus on our viewing collective who don't have the patience for this interesting endeavor.

"We didn't need any dialogue..." from Sunset Boulevard proved right

[BrandonLee_Dizuncan · 9/10 · 12 April 2015]

The Tribe is a remarkable movie set in a boarding school for deaf students, or more specifically its dark side. The world of bullying, violence, juvenile delinquency and prostitution. It is brutal, visceral and tragic. The dialogue is in Ukrainian sign language without any subtitles or spoken words. I expected watching such movie to be a torture. I was wrong. It is gripping, immersing, thought-provoking and quite watchable. But it does demand attentive, patient and interested viewer. When Norma Desmond, a character played by Gloria Swanson in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard said: "We didn't need any dialogue, we had faces", she was part right. We really do not need dialogue to grasp the story, but we don't need faces either. We never see any close ups in The Tribe. What we do see is a bigger picture. And that's what this movie is about.

brutal, original, experimental

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 14 October 2016]

Sergei arrives at an Ukrainian boarding school for the deaf. He's a shy new kid who gets picked on. He is recruited into the ruling gang. They pimp out two of the older girls. Sergei is tasked with being the suitcase pimp and falls for Anya. King rules the organization and decides to sell the girls. Sergei revolts causing chaos and bloodshed.

There is sound but rarely any dialog. The sign language does not get translated into subtitles. One must guess at the plot but it's not impossible. The challenge of interpreting the story has some appeal. The question becomes what this is trying to achieve and what it actually achieves. It doesn't really put the audience into the shoes of the deaf. They actually know what's being said in the movie although it could give a sense of the deaf trying to understand the hearing world. There are some brutal graphic scenes. This is a shocking movie but I must admit that I fastforwarded some of the movie. It's too hard to watch such a quiet movie. One can't compare this to silent movies since those always have music. This is an interesting original experimental movie but I'm not sure what it achieves.

Don't believe the hype

[yoyodyne2222 · 3/10 · 10 January 2015]

The sign language is a gimmick and doesn't make up for the weak plot and (mostly) bad acting.

To begin with the school administrators and all but one teacher disappeared after the first 10 minutes never to be seen again. The kids seem to be running the school. The movie seems to be playing with the 'shocking' realization that the deaf can be as bad as anyone else. I'm not that shocked, being deaf doesn't decrease typical human behavior, except that the filmmaker piled on the bad behavior to a comical level. The only thing they missed was I.V. drug abuse although they seemed to be checking for needle tracks on the new kid just before they test him in a fight with the rest of the gang. Speaking of that, the fight scenes were very poorly choreographed, and the sex scenes were only slightly better though that may have been purposeful; young love and all that. I don't mind looking at good looking naked people but it seems somewhat desperate having the kids pull their clothes off quite so often.

The hand-held tracking shots were impressive at times, especially the one following the lead actor down a snowy and slippery appearing hillside, but there were so many of them (up and down endless hallways and stairs) they became distracting. They may have been used to try to build tension but it doesn't work if it's overused.

Back to the 'gimmick': I wonder if the reason no subtitles were included was that someone realized the dialog was as bad as the rest of the script.

Boarding school represents our tribal culture and systemic oppression

[maurice_yacowar · 10/10 · 5 August 2015]

The opening scene encapsulates the film. There is no music and we hear no language. The camera holds a stationary view across a city road on a bus stop. In front we see and hear a succession of cars, trucks and buses. This is the film's characteristic shot: we are remote, detached, coolly observant of whatever is going on beyond our hearing and understanding. In the distant right is the black ruin of an old car. It's a charred omen of the vehicles that pass, an augur of disaster.

A young man, who will turn out to be our "hero," suitcase in hand, asks a woman at the bus stop for direction. He produces a note to express himself. So he's mute; her gesticulations tell us he's deaf.

The lad is joining a boarding school for the deaf and dumb. That first scene is the last we will see him in that presents the normalcy of our everyday life. His criminal activities will take him to a truckers' stop and onto a train but those scenes show him working for the "tribe" he draws into at the school. Once he gets to the school he is in another world. As he is forced to immerse himself in it we're kept far out. Watching but outside.

The staff and students are very articulate with their gestures, panting and grunts. But we're outside that language. We're of another tribe so we don't understand them. But we can figure out what's going on. That's because we're of the same tribe after all. So we recognize rites of initiation, socialization, pecking orders, cruelty, exploitation and the corruption of our highest values.

The parable of the school, its teachers — some well-meaning, some compromised — and its clearly structured gang of rough boys and sexualized girls, opens into two themes.

The first grows out of all this prolonged, detached shots of cold observation. The tribe at this school is a microcosm of our social structure. The absence of words and music make the experience seem like a clinical study, society viewed as through a microscope. We're detached so we can analyze the group's dynamics — but not so detached that we don't see it is mirroring us.

Two scenes pack the most emotional wallop. In one our lad has sex with the blonde he has been pimping. What begins with awkwardness and fumbles ends in such a closeness she lets him kiss her. For him it's love; for her it may or may not be. Now he can't let himself pimp her anymore. They have another lyrical love scene, which turns ominous when he gives her a full wallet he stole on the train. At the end he bludgeons a teacher to steal money to buy her again. In that tribe he fears there is no "love" without payment.

The second powerful scene is related: the girl's grisly abortion. This too is shot in one continuous long-shot take, in painfully real time. For this she uses the first money he gave her. We don't know if he knows that or not. Their relationship ends in either case.

If the film dramatizes the essential ways of our society, if it shows one sub-culture as typifying all of ours, the climax gives us another resonance. Our lad, who was such a helpless victim when he arrived at he school, stumbling from one abuse to another, suffering the painful initiations, then doing the work assigned him, now rises up against his oppressors. First he assaults and robs the shop teacher who moonlights driving the girls for he pimps. Then he tries to keep his beloved whore from escaping to Italy — by eating her passport. Finally he kills the four boys who have most persecuted him. The appealing young lad turns robotic killer. We hear his continuing thumps right through the end credits — as if his march of revenge proceeds ad infinitum. Now the fable reads as the oppressed rising — finally, after so much abuse — rising up in violent revolution.

At the end we learn the film is from the Ukraine. As the news reminds us, they know about oppression, about tribal wars, about the loss of innocence and about the savagery that persists beneath our veneer of civilization, even — or especially — among those whose disadvantages might dictate they rather aim for civility and care.

A pure masterpiece

[searchanddestroy-1 · 1 October 2014]

A masterpiece speaking of deaf mute Young people, but that ordinary people like me can easily understand. Before the opening credits, it was told that there would not be any subtitles for non deaf mute audiences. I was scared to death, but I stayed and finally made it.

Yes, I warn you, it's a brutal, fierce, bloody film made about orphan teenagers, rebel youth from Ukrainia. Only those Eastern Europa film industries can give us such stories.

Not for the squeamish, I warn you again.

A brutal tale of destruction but beware, NOTHING is gratuitous here. The realism is put at the highest scale possible. And I insist, this is not a gory film either. Only the true life in an Ukrainan youngsters institution.

Tribal

[sol- · 6/10 · 24 April 2016]

Sent to a boarding school designed to cater for deaf mute students, a teenager has trouble fitting in with his new peers in this dark drama from Ukraine. The film is shot entirely in sign language without any subtitles or narration - a stylistic choice that sounds promising. Indeed, the first twenty to thirty minutes of 'The Tribe' feel fascinatingly different from most other movies as it is necessary to concentrate on the body language and facial expressions of the characters to work out what they are saying. Unfortunately, the film runs much longer than that, and while there are some highlights later on, two hours is incredibly long for a movie like this with the novelty value of no dialogue dissipating around halfway through. The film's other novelty aspect -- being shot in 34 very long single takes -- also becomes troublesome as the film progresses since the single take process leads to most shots being long distance ones in which it is hard to read body language and therefore difficult to decipher what is happening. The precious little that can be made out of 'The Tribe''s plot is admittedly fascinating though. There seems be some sort of sordid culture in the boarding school environment, which at least some of the teachers appear to encourage and foster. Echoes of films like 'Unman, Wittering & Zigo' and Sidney Lumet's 'Child's Play' are felt with the suggestion of something sinister in the air, but as mentioned, what exactly is hard to tell. The film certainly ends on a potent note at least with a reminder of how vulnerable we all are when we cannot hear.

Not sure what most people have seen

[Joshua_Barry · 4/10 · 2 March 2016]

I was so looking forward to this! The trailer looked amazing and the hype and general consensus was that The Tribe was incredible. My word. I was so bored! So many components were poorly executed. The acting in general is quite bad, with a few minor exceptions, but I really think the directing makes it seem even worse than it is. The fight scenes are done with, what seems like no effort at all. I couldn't figure out the first fight. Were they trying some moves out for a school play. Some choreography the kids came up with in between classes. That's how it came off to me. The punches certainly don't actually make any contact. The sex scenes are so unrealistic. I mean they're not even close to each other, unless he's very well endowed (which he's not). The plot seems to have many holes in it as well. Where did all the adults go? Are all the truck drivers deaf and mute as well? Too many to list here.

I understand it's quite an achievement to make a film with no dialogue whatsoever, and I think it had potential. The cinematography is pretty well done and the general overtone of the film has merit. The Tribe is a film I had high hopes for and was definitely looking forward to, but I just can't see what others are seeing. http://www.filmnotion.com/

The silence deafens my ears.......

[FlashCallahan · 9/10 · 17 September 2015]

A young man arrives at a new boarding school, but his attempts to fit in are thwarted by the criminal element ingrained in his classmates.

A brief initiation brawl leads to his inclusion into the family and soon he's stealing, scamming and mugging alongside his new friends. It's not long before he's promoted to the role of pimp and guardian to two female students who sell their bodies for cash at truck stops.

When he falls for one of the girls his job grows trickier, leading to an unavoidably violent conflict with his partners in crime........

What could have been nothing more than a gimmick to make a movie seem more prolific than it is, makes hearing impairment an almost real character in the film, as the makers show us it's advantages and disadvantages to the protagonists/antagonists.

And it's one of the most difficult films to watch that I've seen in a long time. Not because of the films violence, I've seen enough films containing graphic images that I've become slightly numb to on screen violence, it's because the content of the film is so dirty, so real, and the depiction of the Ukraine in this movie makes it seem to be one of the most I inviting places you'll never want to visit.

He film has tragedy written all over it from the moment the credits start, and I cannot understand sign language in the slightest, but I knew and understood everything in the narrative, because of body language, the films claustrophobic feel, and long lingering shots that flood the film on many occasion.

The camera never shy's away from anything that is happening on screen, it can't, because there is no soundtrack, no subtitles, no voice over. The only thing we hear are crunching of bones, the lighting of cigarettes, and the erratic breathing of the cast.

The final third of the film is almost unbearable to watch, as the narratives world comes crashing down around everyone, and the disadvantages of hearing impairment is used in an almost exploitative way to end the film.

It's a triumph though for the makers, and the cast, to make a film as gripping and as intense as this, and use only sign language is a work of genius.

But it's not a film that I will quickly go back to, as it's a very bleak view of peer pressure when having a disability.

Would make a really interesting double bill with Come and See......if you had the bottle to do so.

I certainly couldn't.

Totally inappropriate

[steveandtina-22418 · 4 September 2020]

The trailer for this is totally inappropriate to have on your website for young kids to see

Cold.

[ocosis · 6/10 · 4 March 2022]

Cold hearted film centred around a Ukrainian school/community for the deaf, where prostitution and violence are the norm. It's a slow burn and takes some patience as all the communication is in sign language. Similar in tone to Thomas Clay's The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael and Bartosz M. Kowalski's harrowing Playground. One to check out if you like grim and bleak cinema.

Packed with metaphors

[paulokerno · 8/10 · 16 November 2015]

The synopsis is well described in other reviews- I will just add some observations.

It could have been a shorter film but the 2+ hours brilliantly reinforces the utterly bleak isolation and loneliness of institutionalization. There is an overwhelming sense of dehumanization in this film- you don't even know the character's names. There is only a flicker of warmth in the entire film and that is when a prostitute allows herself to be kissed (and even that is painfully awkward). This film is absolutely packed with metaphors. It is a clever film and the more you think about it the better it becomes.

Genius? not quite but it's worth watching if you like "proper" films.

Misfit or dark horse?

[trinacria-82404 · 7/10 · 29 September 2015]

'Plemya/The Tribe' conveys with raw brutality the silent world of the deaf and dumb, as when the older pimp is crushed to death by a reversing lorry, on one of the many nights when two girls from 'the tribe' solicit prostitution from truck drivers. Inspiring and sad by turns, the attitude of the characters in the movie, with the exception of the Down's syndrome boy, is beyond disability. They have worked through their impediments and learned to interact with the world inside and outside their institution, to achieve their intentions, whether good or bad, despite their physical limitations, even oblivious to them. Life inside the institution is bleak, with the only avenue for education and self-improvement being a carpentry class run by the institution's bus-driver. The perfect wooden hammer shaped by the model student, the misfit boy, eventually delivers the fatal blow to the teacher-carpenter, involved in a scam to send the blonde prostitute on a tourist visa to Italy. The movie illustrates how gang loyalties compensate for the lack of guidance in a young person's life. Being free from the shackles of accountability is a primary instigator for criminal activities, for monetary and in-kind rewards but also an antidote for boredom, frustration and idleness. At the end of this stunning movie, sadness is compounded by the realization that we do not have a single name to cross-check against the actors' names on the credit list. Is this a celebration of triumph over adversity? Hardly, but a compelling movie, nevertheless, on a taboo topic. cine girl

'A Clockwork Orange' in a brilliant Ukrainian style

[wvisser-leusden · 9/10 · 5 February 2015]

In one way Ukrainian 'Plemya' is very remarkable, if not unique.

Being located in an institute for young adult deaf + dumb people, the actors communicate by using hand-language. Director Slabosjpitski obviously decided to make his audience part of this process, and left any subtitles out.

So watching this film, you feel a little deaf + dumb yourself -- unless you speak both Ukrainian and hand-language. I never experienced this brilliant effect in any other film before.

--------------

Apart from the above, 'Plemya' reminds me of Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange' from 1971. A criminal gang with a lot of violence, all registered very plainly & realistic. The more so while 'Plemya' has the characteristic slow pace of an East European movie, taking its time to involve you.

'Plemya' surely is a film that gets under your skin. Its mediocre shooting, the only minor feature, is more than compensated by its excellent acting.

Novel and interesting but lacks engagement

[grantss · 6/10 · 27 October 2018]

Sergey, a deaf teenager, and is starting his first day at a special school for the deaf. He soon discovers that most things at the school are run by The Tribe, an anarchic, criminal gang of students. He falls foul of The Tribe and is bullied and attacked by them. However, over time he joins them and works his way up their ranks.

A very original movie: no audible spoken words at all, hardly any sound at all, in fact. The idea being that you need to experience the world of a deaf person. All communication between the characters is done by sign language, and there's no sub-titles. Even if you understand sign language (and, unfortunately, I don't) you probably wouldn't be able to make out what they're saying - the signing isn't directed at the camera.

So you have to watch this essentially as a silent movie, using actions and body language to figure out what is going on. This, and the intriguing plot (initially) make this quite interesting.

However, it lacks engagement. The main character isn't particularly interesting or likeable, and the more you get into the movie, the less you like him.

Plus, the plot can seem quite random at times. Having to use sight cues to determine the narrative does have its drawbacks...

Overall, okay, but could have been better.

Much ado about nothing

[djo_34 · 3/10 · 10 March 2016]

This is one of those movies that artsy, intellectual people will claim is a masterpiece, when it's just a boring, senseless, silent film. The characters are speaking, just in sign language. But apparently the dialogue was so bad, they didn't bother to translate it. I guess if you're a struggling screen writer, you can write movies in sign language with no subtitles. Have you ever gone to a museum and seen a painting that is simply a white canvas? You walk on by and see a white canvas, while artsy, intellectuals grasp at some asinine interpretation to justify the genius of the artist and prove they're smarter than the rest of us. You know, the ones that claim, "it's pregnant with meaning", while it's a blank canvas that someone mistakenly hung on the wall. That is THIS movie. The great thing about his movie, there are no spoiler alerts, because nothing happens. I know you want to see what the hub-bub is about, so go online, download it, watch the first 6 minutes, and then save yourself 2 hours that you could otherwise, never get back.

Blood, guts and woolly toys

[euroGary · 8/10 · 11 November 2014]

I don't know what the situation of deaf teenagers in Ukraine is, but 'The Tribe' won't do them any favours - they all appear to be prostitutes and gangsters-in-training who will mug you as soon as look at you!

A boy arrives at a boarding school for the deaf, where he quickly joins a gang of teen- and adult criminals who pimp a couple of willing female pupils and run some sort of scam which seems to revolve around woolly toys. But when he falls for one of the prostitutes, things get (even more) violent (do they ever - you'll want to make sure your bedside cabinet is nailed to the floor after watching this!)

With a running time of over two hours, the film is needlessly long - cutting down some of the scenes, such as that featuring a visa queue outside the Italian Embassy, would have been a good idea. But I did find it quite engrossing - if conditions at the school are an accurate representation, Ukrainian deaf people are plainly not treated well (and not just the Ukrainian ones - to the fury of British deaf people in its audience, the British Film Institute didn't think to supply a sign language interpreter when director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky introduced the film at the 2014 London Film Festival). And I defy anyone to view the abortion scene and not feel at least uncomfortable - even if the character who underwent it seemed to recover remarkably quickly.

'The Tribe' is made in Ukrainian sign language, with no sub-titles. It is a tribute to Slaboshpitsky and his young, deaf actors that they have still managed to produce a film that a hearing viewer can, for the most part, follow. But if it is ever released on DVD I hope sub-titles are included, as I can't help wondering what viewers who do not understand Ukrainian sign language are missing - perhaps an explanation for why everyone's after those woolly toys?

At a deaf school there is a new student who finds himself having to deal with "The Tribe" which beats up locals and prostitutes its girls.

[Amari-Sali · 6/10 · 27 March 2016]

Rating: Skip It

Trigger Warning(s): Abortion and Murder

Review Summary

Even with shows like Switched at Birth out there, one show naturally doesn't speak for an entire population nor can speak on their diverse realities. Which is what draw me to The Tribe since not only does it present a different perspective and life, but because it represented a new challenge. Said challenge being? Well, watching a movie that you supposedly don't need subtitles to watch. Thus leaving you unable to know the exact dialog between characters and having to go based off body language to figure things out. Leaving you almost vicariously living how perhaps deaf people do. Which came with a few problems.

Main Storyline (with Commentary)

Due to the lack of subtitles, and really only hair color and some continuous attire separating one character from another, I haven't a clue of who is who or the exact storyline. However, what is made clear is that in a small town there is a school for the deaf and we are to follow one of its newest students. Said school looks like a former prison retrofitted into a school, thanks to the small rooms and the bars which separate hallways. But with little to no security, or after school personnel, despite the age range of the students seemingly being middle school to high school, it seems the boarding school is mostly student-run.

Something which causes unique problems for our lead since with everyone being deaf, naturally that cuts them off from the average opportunities. So when disenfranchised, no matter what race, background, color, or orientation, naturally crime becomes an option. As for the crime of these deaf kids? Well, it ranges from assault and robbery of individuals, stealing from individuals on train cars, and even prostitution. Which, with time, our lead finds himself slowly integrating into.

Highlights

Perhaps the main thing this movie does well is it shows how desperate and even vulnerable the deaf population can be. For just consider most places in their area, even with a deaf school being there, probably aren't going to try to really accommodate them. I mean, in terms of spending money they might, for the students know how to write and read, but in terms of working with them in terms of employees? Well, that isn't really presented as an idea. Granted, we see no one try, but that doesn't mean others haven't tried, failed, and spread the news it isn't worth the hassle. Thus leading to why you can understand them stealing.

But, alongside that, you realize, especially with the prostitution aspect, how vulnerable they are. For, just consider this, both the girls and boys, who act as their pimps, are deaf. So if a girl is screaming, for all the wrong reasons, then how would their pimp know? Much less, as seen when a kid gets ran over, much less when it comes to the ending, it shows how a lack of hearing makes your life so much more vulnerable than the average person.

Low Points

While, at first, crafting your own storyline and inserting dialog, like this was Mystery Science Theater 3000, could be fun, after a while it loses its luster. Mostly because eventually you are just left confused and needing some explanation. Such as why would some of the kids of the tribe, the male ones, ask the lead to drop his pants. Are they questioning if he is a cop or is this part of their weird ritual? Then, when it comes to our lead and one of the girls moonlighting as a sex worker, while certain parts of their story make sense due to social cues, like her taking a pregnancy test and then getting a home abortion, it is difficult to understand other situations. For whether it is why he pulled her from a prostitution job after they arrived where she services customers, to whether they end up at the police station over being caught or because of the kid who got ran over, you are left scratching your head.

Another problem is, thanks to no subtitles, and most of the boys only easily differentiated by hair color, and perhaps height at times, it can be hard to tell who is who. Even with our lead, if it wasn't for this one jacket he consistently wears, I wouldn't know it was him until the camera focuses on him or he is alone with the sex worker.

Perhaps the ultimate problem is that with no subtitles, focusing on a group of deaf students sometimes feels more like a gimmick than a novelty. Yet, I honestly feel even with subtitles, what was presented doesn't seem like anything worth holding onto. Like many movies nowadays which seems likes they are using one race or another in place of white people, with hardly any difference between, this film feels like it is doing the same but rather than changing the race it is inserting those who are hard of hearing. Which does come with some differences, due to the method of communication and vulnerability which comes with being deaf, but largely it feels like the same old thing with a different coat of paint.

What did they mean?

[sreeragmeppadath · 3/10 · 3 April 2019]

I'm so sorry.Im not a fan of Art movies.This is a movie which is so hard to get engaged,too slow.Not my thing