Review of The Tribe (2016) by Ellis W — 03 Jun 2015

Ukraine's cinematic bid to reinvigorate the era of silent cinema proves to be an absolute triumph with The Tribe, pitting it's audiences with a stream of sign language with no audible dialogue or subtitles, demonstrating that narrative heft can rest solely on silent behaviours.

The film sees the arrival of a new student at a secluded boarding school, gradually getting recruited into a tribe of organised crime within the school, dealing with prostitution, robbery and violence. You never know any names of any characters in this film (unless you're fluent in sign language), but names are never needed for the drama.

The direction of The Tribe is masterful - most of the scenes are of almost continuous unedited takes - sometimes going for 15 minutes seamlessly. It is a wonder to see everything executed so perfectly in all these scenes, and the flowing alchemy of the narrative never ceases, which is interspersed with occasionally brutal violence and graphic sex. In any other film this kind of violence and sex would feel out of place, but in here nothing feels gratuitous - the director wants to emphasise in as many ways as possible the power of silent cinema. And the power of The Tribe make it one of the loudest silent films you'll ever see.

Granted, unless you're fluent in sign language you will have to piece together everything that's going on yourself, and sometimes the level of information you can deduce from the proceedings is strained, one or two queues may be in need in places, but generally it is not an issue. It is a real shame that this was not nominated at the Academy Awards, as it is a triumph in all aspects of everything it wanted to achieve. It is brutal, unrelenting, graphic, but powerful and thoughtful simultaneously, and will work for older audiences seeking nostalgia from older days of cinema and younger audiences seeking a silent film being brought into a contemporary setting.