In pursuit of an immersive cinematic experience, your first thought would likely be to secure yourself a seat at IMAX. A viewing here submerges you deep into a consuming sensory environment that allows you to engage with the visuals in amidst a rich aural atmosphere. The Tribe thrusts you head-first into the exact same experience – using the opposite technique. From director Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi comes a daring film that’s communicated entirely through sign language with the intentional omission of subtitles. Proving that silence truly is deafening, the viewer is forced into a world that demands full engagement, requiring a keen eye and intuition to be able to understand the intricacies of the plot. If you blink, you might miss a crucial detail. The Tribe holds your attention with no intention of letting go, keeping you on the edge of your seat and holding your breath while following the journey of a young boy grappling with the difficulties of moving to a new school for the deaf.
Sergey (Hryhoriy Fesenko) is subjected to the taunts of those at the top and forced to partake in their antics, whose repertoire of petty crimes range from taking drugs to pimping out their two female group members. Sergey unwittingly falls for one of the girls, leading to a series of complications as he descends down a path that culminates in tragedy and self-destruction. The silence that comes with signaled instead of verbal dialogue amplifies the harshness of the events that unfold as a consequence of the brutal hierarchy amongst students. We may not hear words, but we can certainly hear the knocks of bone against bone during the unsettling scenes of gratuitous school yard violence.
Despite its bleak and haunting content, what’s beautiful about the film is in its attention to detail. Unknowing as to what’s being said between characters turns our focal point to their subtle physical mannerisms – the furrow of a brow or the tender brush of a hand against another. The film is given a layer of depth that’s unable to be achieved by films with dialogue, and makes the space in which we are watching it feel uniquely intimate. We don’t need to tangibly hear what’s being communicated – it’s their silent interactions that speak volumes.
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