JULY 8, 2015
“The Tribe” is a harrowing drama told entirely in Ukranian sign language. No words. No subtitles. Anyone still with me? Anyone? If you are, please don’t miss “The Tribe.” You’ve never seen anything like this.
If you feel you need a crib sheet to follow what’s going on in this wordless story, here goes. Sergey (Grigoriy Fesenko) is the new kid at a Ukranian school for the deaf. He soon encounters The Tribe, a gang of students who dabble in theft and prostitution. After passing his hazing rituals, Sergey is welcomed into The Tribe and is soon assigned the role as pimp to two female students who give oral sex (and more) to local truckers. The problem is that Sergey is beginning to have feelings for one of the women, Anya (Yana Novikova), and that is strictly forbidden by the code of The Tribe.
I won’t sugarcoat it — “The Tribe” requires a greater than average commitment for any moviegoer. To understand the nuances of much of what is going on, you have to actively watch all of the actors’ motions onscreen. Most of the story is clearly shown through action, but some interactions will still remain obscure. But the film plays fair. A sign language fight between the two women followed by a bureaucrat presenting them with gifts of Italy T-shirts, for example, eventually leads to the revelation of their life goals.
The film’s writer and director, Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, has constructed the film with very lengthy takes that allow the viewer to take the perspective of an objective observer. That approach can sometimes be tough to take, especially during a one-take depiction of a medical procedure painfully undergone by Anya.
At 2 hours 10 minutes, “The Tribe” is at times a bit of a slog, but it provoked a feeling in me than I hadn’t felt at a film in a long time, that of being an actively involved moviegoer. And, for that, I’m happy that “The Tribe” exists.
Grade: B
