THE SILENCE
Germany/US, 2019, 90 minutes, Colour.
Stanley Tucci, Kiernan Shipka, Miranda Otto, Kate Trotter, John Corbett, Kyle Breitkopf, Billy Mc Clellan.
Directed by John R.Leonetti.
There have been quite a number of films with ‘silence’ in the title. This one is science fiction, science fantasy. And, for those who saw the recent A Quiet Place, there might be some grounds for plagiarism. It combines the basic plot and action of A Quiet Place along with menacing monsters in the vein of The Birds.
There is quite an elaborate credits sequence, cosmic in its anticipations of what is to happen, archaeologists digging through the tunnels and, very unfortunately, letting loose creatures which have been buried for centuries or millennia. These are not friendly creatures, rather mechanical in their appearance, flying everywhere, a cacophony of sound in their aggressive action. They start attacking everyone, wreaking violent torture and deaths, devastating the cities and the countryside.
The film focuses on a family, Stanley Tucci is the father, Miranda Otto is the mother. There is a particular focus on their teenage daughter, Ally (Kiernan Shipka) who is now hearing-impaired, suffering from the consequences of a childhood accident. There is also a young son and a mother-in-law. The friendly neighbour, John Corbett, gets his family and they all decide to escape to the countryside… Yes, very familiar action (as in A Quiet Place, Bird Box).
While they experience all kinds of dangers in the countryside, the family begin to realise that, as instructed by the media, they must be quiet because attacks can come because of noise, the creatures are. in fact, blind. So, tension as they go through the countryside in their car, the mother-in-law having a breathing attack, their finding a property where the owner comes out and threatens them with the gun only to be dispatched very quickly and violently. There is possible refuge in the house – but, as always, they have to go quietly to the shops in the supermarket to get supplies.
A variation in the familiar plot is the introduction of mad, apocalyptic Reverend and his believing entourage. A lot of menace, writing notes to communicate, the father warning them off, some lascivious intentions by the Reverend.
Can the family survive? Over to us the audience to speculate.
1. The title? Humans keeping silent to avoid the monsters who attacked because of sound?
2. The link with other similar films, especially A Quiet Place? The Birds and other attack stories?
3. The collage of the world and the attack during the credits? The excavations? The letting loose of the monsters? The attack on the city’s, destroying people, the carnage, the effect, communications, the media?
4. The American city, homes, the decision to flee to the countryside? The countryside, forests, water, the attacks? The roads, people dead, cars crashed? The finding of the fence, the refuge in the house? The musical score?
5. The family, Hugh and Kelly, the backgrounds? Ally, losing her hearing? Jude, the younger brother? At school, Ally being mocked? Yet her skills, lipreading? The family signing?
6. The impact of the monsters, sinister creatures, their sounds? The family realising that they could not see?
7. The escape, the car, getting provisions, petrol? The encounters and the attacks? In the forest? The presence of the mother-in-law, her illness, breathing, the sounds, the attacks? Her later giving her life for the family?
8. The conventions of this kind of film, scares, the attacks, the consequences?
9. Keeping silent, the fears, the fence, the woman with the gun, her being attacked and killed? The family settling in? Going for provisions, the silence in the town?
10. The Reverend, sinister, the apocalyptic beliefs, writing notes? Hugh and his wanting to get away? The later return to the house, the followers, the sexual implications? The confrontation is, the guns, the violence?
11. The family, surviving, the mother-in-law to death? Escaping further into the countryside? Survival?
