The Tribe (2014 Ukrainian film)

MakeEmLaugh

The Tribe is an experimental film, but it isn't an experiment. It has what most films have – characters and plot (albeit a sparse one). It evokes many far more traditional films that have come before it in its representation of youth and education (everything from A Clockwork Orange to Fast Times at Ridgemont High).

What makes it a stunning is not only how it makes us think about disabled people, but how it makes us think about cinema itself. Can your recall a major film featuring a deaf character whose disability was not their defining characteristic? Think of Hugh Grant's brother in Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Holly Hunter in The Piano (which is still a great film).

Here, every character is deaf, or at least fluent in sign language, and thus we look beyond this. The characters in The Tribe are as archetypal as you will find in any film set in a school for teenagers – there are the alpha-males, the new arrival, the (at first) unattainable girls.

It also makes us reflect in cinema because we (those of us who are not fluent in Ukrainian sign language) are forced to use or wits to interpret events. To call this a silent film would be erroneous. Even silent films had words on the screen to tell their story. Here, it is entirely down to body language and the extraordinary performances. Compared the storytelling style here to the cluttered, overcooked broth visible in all the major American films this summer – there is a night-and-day difference.

The Tribe also says a lot about the Europe of today. Ukraine, a former Soviet country, looks neglected. There is nary a wall that could not use a fresh coat of paint. More developed countries like Italy (as seen in the darkly humorous scene in which apparently lurid contents on one characters laptop are revealed to be tourist snaps) offers a fresh hope for the characters.

I don't believe The Tribe will start a trend of sign-language films. It will probably stand alone. There were parts of the film which were as close to unwatchable as cinema gets, but I still feel this is a must see.

johnny_ultimate

What I wrote elsewhere after watching it:

There's plenty to appreciate here. The audacious formal choice to film in Russian sign language and exhibit it without translation is a worthy one. Director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky is articulate in cinematic language, and even communicates many of its characters and narrative details in a raw, purer form - while some specifics remain endearingly ambiguous without explicit explanation, there's a real pleasure in seeing the story unfold this way. The film's long takes are very impressive, particularly because of the amount of camera movement and energy, making everything feel lively and unpredictable in spite of a considered, often glacial pacing. And there's plenty to chew on too, including a subtly allegorical undercurrent that is only more intriguing given situations in Ukraine following the film's inception and production.

Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that in some ways this is also 'Eastern European arthouse cinema 101'. The deeply uncomfortable violence, raw sex scenes and a prolonged, graphic back-street abortion sequence (no camera movement there) have the desired effect, especially a genuinely horrific conclusion. Yet at the same time they seem almost gratuitous, daring the audience to look away. The Romanian New Wave is full of gritty, explicit tales of hopelessness and despair - and despite coming from a different country and adopting a novel presentation, The Tribe's no-nonsense portrayal of horror and miserableness felt at times numbing, and can I even suggest obvious?