It’s hard to deny that the survival drama show Squid Game took the world by storm not long after it came to Netflix in September of last year. Not only was the show critically praised, but it became Netflix’s most-watched series ever in nearly 100 countries with 1.65 billion viewing hours.
If you liked Squid Game, would you be interested in watching a movie from its creator? In my humble opinion, the South Korean writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk made a great crime drama in 2011 that you should check out if you’re at all a fan of his approach to storytelling. The film in question? Silenced. Why is this movie worth your time? Keep reading to find out. 😊 What’s It About [NOTE: This section contains minor spoilers for “Silenced.” If you’d rather see the film for yourself, skip to the next section.] Based on real events that occurred in Gwangju, South Korea, Silenced tells the story of Kang In-ho (Gong Yoo) who is the newly-hired art teacher at a school for deaf children. Upon starting work at the school, In-ho notices that many of the children avoid him as much as possible despite his best efforts to connect with them. In his personal life, he is dealing with the wake of his wife’s suicide and checking in on his daughter who is ill. Upon learning that the children are being sexually abused by many of the staff and teachers at the school, In-ho decides to make the kids’ story public and hold the abusive adults accountable. With the help of human rights activist Seo Yoo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), In-ho advocate on behalf of the deaf children but quickly realize just how much the town’s institutions (namely those in charge of them) are working to cover up the truth about the abuse. On top of the pressures of the trial, In-ho and Yoo-jin try to protect the child victims—such as Kim Yeon-doo (Kim Hyun-soo) and Jeon Min-su (Baek Seung-hwan)—from the media, the public outcry, and most importantly their abusers like the headmaster twin brothers Lee Kang-suk and Lee Kang-bok (Jang Gwang). However, as bribery and corruption make the process of bringing their abusers to justice difficult, In-ho, Yoo-jin, and the children develop their own ways of coping with the experience of doing what they can to be heard. Why It’s Worth Watching To be clear, I really liked Netflix’s Squid Game. Its exploration of classism, poverty, and human nature through the framework of a lethal and sadistic game show makes for some damn fine entertainment that has both style and substance. That being said, I think I’m most grateful that I watched Squid Game because it introduced me to Hwang Dong-hyuk. And it introduced me to Silenced. Fair warning: Silenced is not an easy movie to watch. It is a difficult film to get through for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the subject matter of its story emotionally rips your guts out before taking your heart and stomping on it. Is it cathartic? Sometimes, but mostly it’s just downright depressing. So, full transparency, I appreciate those kinds of movies but I know that not everyone does. That being said, Silenced is a film that (if you’re up for it) you should absolutely watch. As a modern-day tragedy, it excels in almost every measurable way. Hwang fictionalizes a real string of sexual abuse of deaf children by corrupt teachers and staff, and thus tells an important story without ever coming off as exploitative or taking advantage of the situation. Like the best “call-to-action” flicks, it does just that: Silenced lights a fire under your ass to get out there and change the world for the better (I’ll get to that later). But what about just as a movie? Does it sensitively handle its themes and characters in a way that is artistically meritorious? Absolutely it does. Silenced never forgets its primary creative goal of humanizing the struggles of these children and the adults who are there for them while also celebrating them overcoming those struggles in pursuit of personal healing and justice for themselves and the others who were molested and abused. Of course, Hwang is only one piece of this incredibly powerful cinematic puzzle that is Silenced. Without a doubt, the weight of these characters’ journeys is on these amazing actors. I particularly appreciated the understated heaviness of Gong Yoo’s performance (the dad from Train to Busan and the Recruit from Squid Game, if you’re familiar). But all of the main cast excel in their roles, from Jung Yu-mi (the pregnant woman from Train to Busan) as the human rights activist to each of the kids. It always amazes me how children that age can play such intense roles in some incredibly emotional films, but these young actors make it look easy from start to finish. I don’t want to leave out the “villains” of the film as they do an equally fine job at the opposite of the aforementioned performers. I found myself loving hating Jang Gwang in the dual role of the deaf school’s abusive headmaster, while Kim Min-sang plays against Baek Seung-hawn very well in what is undeniably one of the standout scenes of the movie. Simply put, there is no weak link in the cast of Silenced. They all bring 110% for the entire runtime which makes the film hard to look away from. If that wasn’t enough to convince you to check this movie out, Silenced is also (in my humble opinion) a fantastic spotlight for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community which has only recently been getting positive mainstream attention in cinema with movies like A Quiet Place and CODA (full transparency, I am not deaf or hard-of-hearing so please take my opinion on this with a grain of salt). Thus, the movie feels all the more important to me because it tells a story that—while tragic and emotionally taxing—never comes off as belittling its deaf characters. Nor does it glorify their trauma or patronize them as people. Instead, Silenced gives agency to its disabled characters to tell their own story (despite their age) in their own way both to process their abuse and seek justice for the crimes committed against them. In other words, these kids aren’t victims because of who they are but because of what happened to them which is a refreshingly modernized portrayal of disabled characters. Has ALL THAT still not convinced you? Well, how about this? Upon the release of Silenced in South Korea, the film sparked so much outrage amongst the general public that the deaf school on which the film was based was shut down, the head administrator was sentenced to twelve years in prison for sexually assaulting a student, and the Korean National Assembly passed a law (named after the film) which removed the statute of limitations for sexual assault against disabled people and children under the age of thirteen. Silenced is a movie that actually changed shit for the better. Doesn’t THAT make it worth watching? 😊 Have I convinced you to check out Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Silenced? What’s a movie that you feel is underappreciated? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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