Review of Lorna's Silence (2008) by Heather M — 04 Aug 2009

The plot, theme, gritty cinematography, and character types are so familiar to me probably because it was made by the same team who wrote L'Enfant which was an excellent film. This one was just as dark and emotionally complex depicting the amorality of human trafficking and its financial rewards of Eastern Europeans trying to gain access to the more affluent European Union countries, namely Belgium in this movie.

The plot and its development is all in the facial expressions of the star actress, a relative newcomer who learned French in just 8 days (I'm sooo incredulously envious!). You see her detachment soften with humanity that puts her in the predicament she has helped to create for herself.

The first half of the film was slow and methodical which quickly is heightened when some key parts are not shown to the audience. Definitely another great film by the Dardenne brothers, as only they could dream up a story line that involves finding a junkie to pay to marry you for a green card, and then either a) waiting for him to OD because all junkies usually go back after trying to quit so its just inevitable or b) encouraging him to OD so that you can get a quickie divorce AFTER you've received your green card, so that you can marry rich Russian mafioso who will pay you for the marriage of convenience so that HE can get a green card.

Yes, its easy to pass judgement here on all the "AWFUL" people but really its like being God, and seeing what human beings do with their free will and not doing a thing to interfere. (I borrowed that last bit from Roger Ebert who used that metaphor to describe the Dardenne brother's earlier work, L'Enfant.

) Its not always so clear cut, life. I gave it just 4 stars because truly L'Enfant was much much better. This one, the ending was a bit off kilter for me, but rife for discussion with other movie goers.

L'Enfant just hit me like a wave by the end...that's how much that film affected me.