"The Silent Forest": a social realism drama nominated for eight Golden Horse Awards

The film "The Silent Forest", directed by Ke Zhennian and nominated for eight Golden Horse Awards, depicts the deaf teenager Zhang Cheng (played by Liu Ziquan) who is about to transfer to Qi Cong School. The world of the deaf is not as quiet as the world of listening. When he discovered the "game" in the last row of the school bus, the joy of immersing in a new life, instantly became a fear... Seeing her favorite girl Beibei (Chen Feifei) was bruised and bruised in the game, the senior Xiaoguang (Jin Xuanbin) was arrogant and unquestionable, and a group of classmates were naive and harmless. Zhang Cheng wondered whether the cruel truth of the game should be revealed or join the game. Ranks?

Not hearing it doesn't mean it didn't happen! The real case adaptation of "The Silent Forest" depends on whether the viewer has the courage to look directly at the truth

"The Silent Forest" is adapted from the mass sexual assault incident in Tainan's Qi Cong School in 2009. There were more than 100 sexual assault cases involving as many as 300 students in the school. The perpetrators and victims were all hearing impaired. When director Ke Zhennian adapts such a heavy theme, even if she presents unbearable images of violence, she does not simply divide human nature into two, which means that the line between good and evil is no longer so clear. She wants to What is being discussed is why the victim does not speak out for assistance? How can the victim sympathize with the perpetrator? Is the sexual violence of the perpetrator a natural and pure evil? Or was it tempted by external forces to cause it?

Director Ke Zhennian, who directed the feature feature film for the first time, sorted out the story very skillfully and methodically, allowing us to see various complex aspects of human nature. Through the film, we see the difficulty for the deaf to integrate into the world of hearing people (people with normal hearing), but the deaf’s own world is full of various dangers, in order to prevent grandparents from worrying, in order to continue to be self-sufficient. The world lives well and continues to "play together" without speaking out. Just like Beibei's desire to learn to swim in the summer and keep practicing "holding her breath", it has become her only and only life option. Zhang Cheng wanted to expose the truth out of sincerity, but no matter how hard he worked with his teacher (played by Liu Guanting), he was finally unable to break through because the wall of "reality" was so huge that he even became a hunted beast in order to rescue Beibei. When he fought back against the big demon Xiaoguang, he discovered that the big demon was someone else.

"The Silent Forest" does not intend to lead to an ending where justice must be fulfilled, but through a progressive narrative, it allows us to see the real world. The degree of complexity and obscurity of human nature is far beyond our imagination. Today's perpetrators are possible. Being a victim of the past (or in the current progressive style), similar situations have been described in the short film "Horse with No Name" directed by Ke Zhennian, the Japanese film "Solomon's false testimony" and the American film "It". In the film, Xiaoguang and the teacher derive the plot of Stockholm syndrome. At first glance, it is surprising and even uncomfortable. But thinking about the surroundings of our lives and opening the social page of the newspaper, these plots are not just invented, it proves that he must exist in reality. It depends on whether the viewer has the courage to look directly.

The flaws are not concealed, and the sound is loud

Looking at the whole film of "The Silent Forest", Director Ke is firmly in control of the rhythm of the film. Lu Luming created a suspenseful and even ghostly atmosphere for the soundtrack created by the film. Su Peiyi and Chen Junhong, who jointly produced the sound effects, are in the environmental sound The manufacturing is also very good, especially the scene where Zhang Cheng dropped his hearing aid in the vegetable market. Through the fading out of the environmental sound, we can fully empathize with his more silent inner world. The most commendable is that Director Ke is in the actor's guidance. She still exerts her strengths in actor scheduling. Even though the acting skills of Yang Guimei, Taibao and Liu Guanting have a certain degree of strength, they are the first time acting as the leading actor and actress on the big screen. Liu Ziquan and Chen Sifei, and Jin Hyunbin, who was shortlisted for the best supporting actor in one fell swoop, through intensive sign language learning and hard work to become a character, so that the viewer can quickly integrate into their world and penetrate into their difficulties, struggles, pain and anger. Director Ke The guidance to the actors is indispensable.

"The Silent Forest" is of course not perfect (He Xiangu's mosaic really does not help the narrative of the whole film), but he has the courage to face the social reality and the sincerity of not sensational but restraint in storytelling, and is delicate and delicate to human nature. Careful observation, coupled with the concerted efforts of the editor, director and the entire technical team, is not unreasonable for him to be shortlisted for eight awards at the Golden Horse Awards.