No dialogue, no subtitles

The Tribe (Plemya, 2014; Ukranian sign language)

This must be a milestone in movie making. For the first time, we see a film done completely in sign language, no subtitles and no spoken dialogue. All the actors communicate through sign language. For your information, sign language is not universal. This one was done in Ukrainian sign language and boasts of 43 awards thus far.

It tells of a deaf young man who gets enrolled into a school for the deaf. He slowly gets involved in a web of mugging and pimping. A small group of 4 students and 2 girl moonshine after school hours in the bleak unstimulating freezing weather of Ukraine. Things get complicated when the new guy gets romantically linked to one of the girls.

Watching the film, one has to make a composite picture of what is happening. The director wanted his audience (both with hearing capability and those challenged) to appreciate it the same way. As the visual way is the only way to appreciate what it is going on, they must have decided to make it way too graphic - the elements of violence, sex and gore- than it needed to to lure audience, I suppose. I wonder if that is the reason it garnered international attention and accolades. Exposing everything and calling it bold is nonsensical.

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