Review of Sound of Metal (2020) by Jluis_001 — 05 Dec 2020

I had been waiting to see this one for a long time, and luckily this movie respond it.

By the way I must warn you that if because of the poster and the title you think you will see a film about metal or music, forget it, that's only the preamble.

Sound of Metal tells the story of Ruben. He's the drummer of a rock duo with his girlfriend who sings and plays the guitar.

The problem is that Ruben is beginning to lose his hearing, so he has to accept the situation or to see if there's some way to repair the damage and return to life as he had known it until then.

At that point the film becomes a sensory journey for the viewer, because accompanied by its excellent sound design, the film makes us clearly experience the situation that Ruben is facing, because like the character we hear voices and noises as if they were heard underwater.

This is essential to the functioning of the film, because it makes you experience even briefly how incredibly difficult their situation is.

Ruben is a recovering addict and therefore fearing a relapse he joins a group of deaf people so that Ruben can deal with both issues.

Perhaps the script doesn't operate with sufficient force at that point because it doesn't explore in more depth what the experience means for the deaf community. After what I read, about how some in this community consider those who seek surgical remedies as traitors, is when I understood the message of the film better.

Because Ruben wants an implant to regain his hearing, but also the film causes you to understand that there is also the possibility of facing this inevitable change and therefore reach acceptance of it.

It's not that the movie is trying to romanticize deafness, but rather that even we, who will never understand it 100%, can at least be much more empathetic.

Riz Ahmed is great here. This is his best performance since HBO's The Night Of.

It's a pity that he didn't receive the necessary credit and that the film went unnoticed, but if you have the chance to watch it, do yourself a favor and do it.