“BECAUSE OF LOVE AND HATRED YOU DON’T NEED TRANSLATION”
Article by Adam Mast
This challenging, brutal, dramatic import from the Ukraine centers around Sergey– a young deaf man who will do whatever it takes to fit in at a boarding school for the hearing impaired. After a rough start, he does eventually settle in. He even finds love. With each passing moment however, it becomes apparent that this particular boarding school if filled with a lot of bad apples.
When a tribe of “thug” students aren’t extorting money from their weaker classmates, they’re stealing, maiming, and pimping out two of their own in an effort to make extra cash. And Sergey is the at the center of all of this madness.
THE TRIBE sort of plays like a Ukrainian version of CITY OF GOD or GOODFELLAS. It delves into the lives of troubled hoods who will do anything to get ahead. It’s an ugly bit of business and features, among other things, graphic sexual content and extreme violence. There were a couple of moments during this movie when I found myself looking down at the floor because it was simply too uncomfortable to keep my eyes on the screen.
Having said that, THE TRIBE is expertly crafted. Provocative too. Tonally, there were parts that reminded me of Gaspar Noe’s disturbing but hypnotic “Irreversible”. There are a couple of scenes here that are a little over directed but by and large, there is dreamlike quality and a “fly on the wall” approach that director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky takes with the material. Yes, there is a lot of awful stuff going on in this movie, but there is real artistry on display here.
What really makes THE TRIBE stick out…What truly makes it such a challenging and rewarding cinematic experience for those willing to take a chance on something way outside the box, is that the entire movie is in sign language. No talking and no subtitles. It’s a true testament to the skill of the film-makers and an exceptional cast that THE TRIBE still speaks to the viewer. It may not be what you want to hear, but it’s certainly a movie you’re not likely to forget. THE TRIBE got under my skin in a big way.
