Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Don't Believe the Hype

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The Tribe is one of the films with an odd way of speaking. The film is entirely from the beginning to the end using sign language which also became one of the breakthroughs because films like this seemed rare or unacceptable to some people. Maybe, I don't know if out there other than this movie the rest using sign language without any conversation that using word-per-word though. But, imagine watching in the cinema could leave a dark impression but full of doubt when you see this movie. The premise was simple, an innocent young man who's trying to stay in his school where the school was full of robbery, prostitution, and other criminal things.The first opening scene has clearly stated that this movie doesn't use subtitle, dialog, and voice-over. I've guessed that this is not a happy type of movie in it. It feeling of concern when enjoying this movie is whether to understand the story or dialogue which it uses a sign language that almost some people don't understand sign language. I think is not. Without further ado, Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi uses all the actor and actress whose deaf so as not to show too much gimmick or acting. It's a pure gesture and facial expressions from the actors who understand the role of each their characters. So, don't worry if you can't comprehend the plot in such a way because this also teaches how to interpret the story without any help of a word. Unless you don't understand sign language, you can easily understand the story and the message the director wants to bear.The Tribe has an interesting element regardless of using sign language without any subtitle. One of them is the cinematography which is almost as a whole taken in one shot in a very long moment. The pictures through the camera always seem steady and always intercept or highlight the characters without any constraints frames or jump cut that seem questionable. The neatly visible movements make The Tribe seem more unique when talking about this aspect. Not too much to hear from the actors who use the sign language so it's not like I really care to them because it was notified early from the first though it also adds an important point because it doesn't use a fake gimmick.The director always shows a cinematography which is so smooth as for the most part and also my favorite when the two main characters are discussing in a two different room. One supporting character is entering one room with another room but the camera never separated from the view of the two characters are in the two room. When the two characters finished consulting, the other two characters coming from the right direction in the outdoor made the camera focus on the two new characters into the on-screen wherein this point they are, again, would describing the plot. Some other examples like the use of the environment are also unique as Akira Kurosawa does, using lots of weather, the direction of the wind, and the environment to further establish the character.The Tribe isn't a happy story. This is about one person who's in the wrong way makes him unable to fight in the place and must take all the situations which reside in his school. He surrendered himself to be able to adapt but that's what makes him a different person, especially on the ending that feels like a well-execution in a dark manner and creates a trace pattern. I think some flaws that make the cinematography so uncomfortable for some people are also a matter of getting viewers to leave a depressed impression such as one shot that's taking too long to cut, a silent scene with almost no sound at all like watching Martin Scorsese's Silence, and uncomfortable feelings about things like those. The Tribe also have many memorable scenes such as, of course, the dark ending scene, the abortion scene which also makes me the most creepy and cringe scene I've ever seen in this movie or any other movie, and the climax.The Tribe must be one of those movies with a strange and different experience than watching any mainstream movies. The use of sign language is difficult to understand but shows a work of art not only through words but through with feelings and thoughts as well. The Tribe is not a film which is too heavy to understand the way it is delivered but it also introduces you to the culture and the foundations of the deaf people so there is no mutual distinction.

As a credit to the film-makers the opening screen advises viewers that there is no dialog or sub-titles, the film is completely in sign language. Can you follow the film without knowing sign language? Absolutely, you will miss some of what they are trying to convey but other parts are perfectly clear, in some scenes there is absolutely no mistaking what the characters are talking about. The film starts off with a boy showing up at a rundown boarding schools for the deaf, the school seems to have a large population of students however the film focus on a small core group of 2 girls and 4 boys; following these students as they build their criminal empire with the help of their wood shop teacher they graduate from extorting money from other students, to theft, robbery, prostitution and murder. The new kid is jumped into "The Tribe" and works his way up the ladder and back down again, at first administering a few kicks to a shopper they rob and beat for some beer and wine, then moving along to become the pimp for the two prostitute classmates. Falling in love with one of the girls begins the downward spiral and exile from "The Tribe" out on his own to make money and survive he resorts to robbery and murder. The film takes place in the Ukraine but it could be anywhere, there is a total lack of supervision for the kids at the boarding school and they seem to have quite a bit of free time to spend on their criminal activities, our core group of students have keys to the school and come and go as they please, in the end the film is about a group of kids doing what they need to do to survive and their eventual failure.

At some point while watching The Tribe, I realised I was being asked to take a side. Is this a fantastically ambitious, technically precise, artful slice-of-life look at the brutality humanity is capable of? Or is it an exploitative, immature, cinephile indulgence that insults the deaf community with its condescension. The litmus test of a bad movie is when you start to admire the technique, because it means you are not caught up in the story. The Tribe, in fact, sets out to ensure you are not caught up in the story: one scene one take long shots that carry on interminably is a rigorous aesthetic that craves an art-house stamp of approval, but the audience is doubly distanced by the signing interactions. This does not give a universal humanity to the deaf, it simply denies them a voice. This happens quite literally - like the director, I work near a deaf school and share a commute with the pupils. They are loud as hell, like all energetic schoolkids are. I can't imagine deaf Ukranian schoolkids are any different. Much has been made of the precise staging and blocking. But while I could admire the precise timing in some of the mise-en-scene, there are also amateurish moments, such as the slapstick fighting that is supposed to be the protagonist's rite of passage into the gang. The second half of the film seems to give up on any semblance of reality in plotting completely. The protagonist is conveniently hanging about when his romance interest gets her new passport, and there is a conveniently filled sink of water waiting when the bad boys get hold of him. A teacher is assaulted, possibly murdered, with no apparent consequences. I can't tell if this is a comment on societal indifference to brutality, or lazy screen writing. The pleasure in viewing The Tribe emerges from the mechanics of filmmaking, asking "How did they do that?": the violence, the sex scenes, the abortion sequence. As narrative, as catharsis, the film never engages and its gimmicks become weary. A clever film in many ways, perhaps a cynical one, and nowhere near as good as it thinks it is.

A young man arrives at a new boarding school, but his attempts to fit in are thwarted by the criminal element ingrained in his classmates. A brief initiation brawl leads to his inclusion into the family and soon he's stealing, scamming and mugging alongside his new friends. It's not long before he's promoted to the role of pimp and guardian to two female students who sell their bodies for cash at truck stops. When he falls for one of the girls his job grows trickier, leading to an unavoidably violent conflict with his partners in crime........What could have been nothing more than a gimmick to make a movie seem more prolific than it is, makes hearing impairment an almost real character in the film, as the makers show us it's advantages and disadvantages to the protagonists/antagonists.And it's one of the most difficult films to watch that I've seen in a long time. Not because of the films violence, I've seen enough films containing graphic images that I've become slightly numb to on screen violence, it's because the content of the film is so dirty, so real, and the depiction of the Ukraine in this movie makes it seem to be one of the most I inviting places you'll never want to visit.He film has tragedy written all over it from the moment the credits start, and I cannot understand sign language in the slightest, but I knew and understood everything in the narrative, because of body language, the films claustrophobic feel, and long lingering shots that flood the film on many occasion.The camera never shy's away from anything that is happening on screen, it can't, because there is no soundtrack, no subtitles, no voice over. The only thing we hear are crunching of bones, the lighting of cigarettes, and the erratic breathing of the cast.The final third of the film is almost unbearable to watch, as the narratives world comes crashing down around everyone, and the disadvantages of hearing impairment is used in an almost exploitative way to end the film.It's a triumph though for the makers, and the cast, to make a film as gripping and as intense as this, and use only sign language is a work of genius.But it's not a film that I will quickly go back to, as it's a very bleak view of peer pressure when having a disability.Would make a really interesting double bill with Come and See......if you had the bottle to do so.I certainly couldn't.