Summary
An often emotionally harrowing film, the cast of excellent young actors — and a refusal to provide us with all the solutions — really makes this piece on the cyclical nature of abuse engaging and memorable.
Although inspired by events at National Tainan Special School in Taiwan, Ko Chien-Nien’s Golden Horse Award-winning film is careful to point out that it’s a work of fiction. Yet the grim reality is that the subject matter it deals with, namely the sexual and physical abuse of children in specialised schools, is an all too real and too frequent occurrence. Indeed, South Korean film Silenced (2011) dealt with a similar case at the Gwangju Inhwa School for the hearing-impaired.
In THE SILENT FOREST (無聲), Ko concentrates on the experiences of a deaf teenager Chang Cheng (Troy Liu) who begins attending a school exclusively for other deaf children. The environment seems like a great fit at first, no longer having to worry about social stigma. He even becomes close with fellow student Bei Bei (Buffy Chen).
Yet it soon becomes apparent to Chang that not only is Bei Bei regularly assaulted by other students — a group led by Xiao Guang (Kim Hyunbin) — but there is a systematic culture of sexual and physical assault that is partially covered up by the teaching body. With the help of a teacher Wang (Liu Kuan-ting) as an ally, Chang and Bei Bei struggle with choosing to speak up or continue to ‘fit in’ with a world that accepts them.
THE SILENT FOREST is not an easy film to watch. Nor should it be. The scenes of abuse are confronting, especially given that they are in plain sight of other kids and occasionally teachers. “I screamed for help,” Bei Bei later explains to a Mr. Wang. “They couldn’t hear me.” It’s absolutely heartbreaking, juxtaposed as it is with the school principal making excuses rather than actions while the behaviour continues.
Solidifying the impact of these events is an amazing collective of young performers. Chen won Best New Performer at the Golden Horse awards last year with her earnest and raw role, while the teenage Liu — known primarily for a supporting role in the TV series All Is Well — provides a terrific bridge between the audience and the closed world of the school. Even Kim Hyunbin’s fairly unnerving (and award nominated) performance as the primary bully — a seemingly stone-faced sociopath for most of the film — is tempered by an unexpected character revelation.
As the film begins to show the consequences, causes and the volume of the abuse — touching on media coverage and the availability of reproductive health facilities — it’s clear that this is part of a broader cycle. In a chilling final scene, it’s implied that the acts will continue unless something is done. By way of comparison, when Silenced opened in South Korea, it led to a public outcry and eventually legislative reform. Director Ko doesn’t overtly call for any action in his film, but merely presents the facts as they are to break the silence.
2020 | Taiwan | DIRECTOR: Ko Chien-Nien | WRITERS: Ko Chen-Nien, Lin Pin-chun | CAST: Liu Kuan-ting, Buffy Chen Yan-Fei, Kim Hyunbin, Troy Liu | DISTRIBUTOR: NYAFF 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6-22 August 2021 (NYAFF 2021)
