Silenciado (2011)

"Based on a true story" is what made this story for me, even more memorable. It is a movie that made my head hurt for days and I had to pour it all out to my friends because I would be very depressed afterwards. Let me be honest, I would never rewatch it, not because it is bad, but because to takes a toll on your mental health. The story itself breaks you apart and the acting is just as good. I watched this after hearing that this was a very controversial movie, so I was wondering how it would go. I made a great decision! I still feel pain in my heart even though I watched this a while ago.

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I went into this movie after reading its basic summary. Since it had Gong Yoo in it, I decided to go for it. I did no prior research beforehand and after finishing the film, I realized I should have.

This movie is not easy to watch, by any means. And I think that's what the makers of this movie intended it to be, and that is why it got the response it did. Did you know that this is a story based on true events? Did you know an author named Gong Ji Young wrote a book on said events? Did you know that Gong Yoo read it while he was in the army and decided to make it into a movie? This movie, caused such a visceral public reaction, that it was forced to revise a law, a law which enabled offenders of this particular crime get off with light sentences, and after the legislation was passed, the offenders were then punished justly, years after the actual crime was committed?

For those who didn't know, they know now.

The movie starts off on a morbid note. From the beginning, you are gripped by this sense of foreboding that things will take a dark turn, and oh lord, do they ever. There were times, I wanted to stop watching and never think about it, but I managed to make it to the end, somehow.

People heavily critiqued the scenes where that showcased the abuse. I can understand where they're coming from, because who wants to see that? But, in my opinion, those very scenes helped drive the point home. The point being that we live in a society where these abhorrent atrocities take place. People like these, exist. They look just like us. They are us. They don't look like the embodiment of evil, they look like your average person, your friendly neighbor, the scruffy teacher who's always in a hurry, or a member of a religious group. People who are hailed as paragons of virtue. People like these take advantage of children, because they know they're easy to manipulate and abuse and that they will get away with it.

Every actor, played their role well. To the point they made your skin crawl and your gorge rise. The actors playing the children, especially. I cannot even imagine how they managed to play the roles they did.

I can't say anything for its rewatch value. For me, once was more than enough.

Another thing that made this movie hard to forget was how the story of Minsu ended and the movie's ending. It was tragic and it was realistic. It made you realize, that justice does not always prevail, and that the bad guys get away. I will end this review by a quote from the movie, which gives you much to think about;

"Watching them grow so well, it makes me think that we should not fight to change the world itself but to stop it from changing us. "

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Might I suggest that if you choose to watch this you bring a pillow and Kleenex, the tissues are for the amount of tears you will shed and the pillow is to beat it to death when you watch the violent scenes.

Due to the maturity of the nature of this movie I would say you need to be over 21 years old. It is graphic and extremely violent though I know that this movie was tamed down because it was a horrendous event that took place.

It is worth watching not only for the acting but for the story itself.

Painful and excruciating to sit through the entire movie and not feel a thing but numbness to the kind of cruel world this really is.

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Someone pass the tissues

This is quite a disturbing film, made worse with the knowledge that it is a true story!
It is incredibly heart-wrenching and I feel like it just sticks to you, even after it has ended; it is almost cemented in my memory.
Some scenes seemed too real/almost unnecessary for me though. Thinking about how the child actors must've felt whilst filming somewhat graphic scenes... This leads me to something I truly commend. The child actors in this movie were incredible! They yanked at your heartstrings and showed true pain, fear, and anger. I cannot get over how well they played their roles, especially having not only to play abused children but deaf children as well. I feel like they all portrayed their characters well.
Similarly, you do boil with anger at the main culprits' sick, twisted views and actions. Obviously, they too played their roles well, considering how rage-inducing it was to watch them. To think that they represented people who actually did these things to children.... and how they looked down on the kids and saw them as less than human, simply because of a disability..... disgusting!

All in all, it truly is a gut-punching sad and uncomfortable film.

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Speechless

I knew what this movie was about and yet still I chose to watch it because of my favourite actor Gong Yoo.

Although I knew what this movie was going to be about, I wasn’t aware of what the ending would be.

Throughout the movie I had to take several pauses especially once they started showing scenes of the kids being sexually assaulted.

I think at some point I had trouble with breathing, it was disgusting and frustrating and heart wrenching.

This movie only made me think about how there are actual children in the world going through this, and despite the help- we fail them.

I can’t stop crying over this movie. I can’t stop this ugly feeling inside of my heart from the wronging I feel.

How could an adult watch a video of a child being raped and do nothing about it? How could you be so fucking disgusting? I really can’t wrap my head around it.

This whole movie changed me a lot. I cannot believe how adults lose morality when it comes to children. CHILDREN.

I hope every person who has inflicted any sort of pain on a child, burns in hell for all eternity.

Sorry for ranting so much, my comment on the movie is that the actors did very well, especially the child actors. So very well done and performed. I couldn’t stop crying through the court scenes and when the boy died. Amazing acting. I would never watch this movie again but it is still great nonetheless.

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Heartbreaking

I knew what this movie was about going in but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for it. It is an amazing movie, the acting is phenomenal and the cinematography is beautiful, but I felt sick watching it. This movie is very very upsetting and I don’t think any amount of warning will prepare but I will try. This movie includes on screen child abuse and on screen child sexual assault and rape as well as ableism. It is tragic and horrifying. The child actors did so well, I am not certain if they are actually deaf or not but they did an amazing job. Min Su’s “I don’t forgive him” scene was one of the most heartbreaking scenes I have ever watched in cinema. Those poor children, it is truly horrific that this is based on a true story. Gong Yoo did amazing as did the lead female actress. Overall I would very highly recommend this movie but only if you can emotionally handle it.

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“The film that shook South Korea”

For this review I am not going to say much about the story and what it does ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The movie is based on true events and that in of itself just means is that story respected and executed well. I think this movie is phenomenally well done.

To keep it short the acting is stellar, especially from the children actors. With this type of subject, everyone did a great job in their respective roles.

So for a review I don’t really know what to say other than everything is done so well.
There are a lot of areas that this movie could’ve changed to appeal to people. I was a bit nervous watching the child abuse scenes but am very glad to know that the children and adults were completely separate during those. The outcomes are still very disturbing.

This movie was more of an experience for me. To see these situations and know that these things actually happened to children and that the justice system did fail and it’s not just for that horrible trope of having a sad ending.

This movie is based off of true events, and it’s harrowing to imagine that with that being the case- the truth of the situation was much worse. I truly found it hard to watch a lot of scenes, and the movie as a whole was also hard to watch. But with this case I am applauding the movie here, it executed its message so well. This movie isn’t supposed to be happy or triumphant- it’s challenging any movie goers sense of justice and educating them of the harsh realities. The justice system has failures and like the true story, it failed children and left despicable people by over the victims.

This movie brought to light a case that wasn’t talked about much compared to 2011, where in 2005 it had wrapped up- public outrage occurred and the actual events and cases were reinvestigated because of it. This movie changed peoples thinking, and actually did a lot of remarkable things.

The rewatch is low because I will get it clear that you really can’t eat during this movie. You can’t talk even, you watch and get immersed and ultimately are moved.. and for me you are left completely silent crying nonstop.

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If you're into watching realistic movies, then you're bound to like it. SILENCED/THE CRUCIBLE is an effective & realistic drama feature that appeals because of the sincerity towards the film by its actors and the justice done to the script by the director. Such strong content- oriented films can definitely change the society and it's not a spoiler, it did. To find out more, search about it on Internet. SILENCED is by no means an ordinary film: it's a film which questions South Korean society, as well as the people of the world as humans, too.

I don't think it would be right to tell what the film is about since that can be found out easily. But, wait. Why don't you simply see the film and recommend it to others? This is a realistic film, and the word is enough for you to understand what kind of a film it is. The topic is what is being commonly raised in our Indian movies too, but from a totally different perspective. I think this is the first of its kind. The film is made in a way that you'll end up rooting for the lead characters, their efforts and the young victims. I was indeed shocked to see how far can the devilish nature of humans go. Some scenes, rather many scenes might be, by no means an easy watch. But I support the director's reason for adding these realistic scenes: to make us feel angry, and I not just felt angry, but also happy that he succeeded in making us emote.

SILENCED is a film which can end up raising hot debates and talks, and it would be a surprise if one doesn't end up liking the film. The film is a perfect example of films that can change the society, the country and eventually, the world. Even though I'm not a South Korean, I ended up liking this film very much. What happens in this film happens in India almost daily, but still it was refreshing to see such a realistic film from South Korea, the country from where we get terrific films everywhere.

Technically too, this film is brilliant. I recommend catching it on Blu- ray. The dialogues are powerful. Gong Yoo once again proves himself and I don't need to say why. Jung Yu-mi is not just pretty, but a talented actress too. You can see it from her performance. The child artists surprise you with their acts, since you don't expect kids normally to do such a dark film. They all give terrific performances, eventually making you feel their pain. The pain in the torturous violence can be felt, and is thus not meant to entertain you.The cinematography is excellent. Visuals are excellent. The music supports the film and the editing is great as the film doesn't bore you for even a second.

SILENCED is a very, very powerful film which deserves to be seen. Sadly I can't recommend it for kids, since they would be saddened but I recommend it to people around 15 and above to watch it. Such films don't intend to entertain you only, but also to make you aware and alert. It won't be right to call it an enjoyable film, but it's definitely thought-provoking, and at times, entertaining too.

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Injustice et long combat

Le film nous montre le long combat d'un prof d'art plastique contre les abus du directeur et des enseignant d'un collège, envers des enfants sourds. Ce film est dur, poignant, émouvant. On comprend que c'est toujours une histoire d'argent et de pouvoir car pour lutter contre des abus sexuels de la part de ces personnes, qui sont respectées dans la ville, ça n'est pas évident. Ils usent de leur pouvoir pour racheter les familles et même ce professeur en question. Heureusement qu'il refuse et qu'il fait tout pour aller jusqu'au bout.

Cette histoire est malheureusement arrivée dans la vraie vie. Les acteurs ont tous bien joué, mais je me mets leur place, ça peut être traumatisant... Le film est long mais prenant, et ne laisse pas indifférent à ce fléau.

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WOW, just WOW! I just finished watching this, and I am frustrated and in tears. I knew what the Drama was about, but actually watching it was an experience I didn’t expect to have. Silenced is about a teacher hired at a school for deaf children. First frustration was the school expected payment for hiring him. First of many signs of corruption and cover up. Then, after he started working there, that’s when he started witnessing abuse that went far beyond the school. The acting was excellent, both by the adults, but especially the children. If you’re not willing to witness child sexual and physical abuse, do not watch this movie. I mentioned that I was frustrated in the beginning of this review. It is because justice was not served because of all the corruption and cover up. Sorry to say this was based on a true story from the not too distant past. It is true in real life that justice wasn’t served. BUT, this movie did something good. That good was it shed light on the problems of the justice system with child sexual and physical abuse in the country, so much so, that laws were enacted to protect children experiencing this. The unfortunate thing is, these laws were passed after this happened, so the abusive people at the school got light sentences, and some went back to teaching. You will not be able to take your eyes off the screen. Through all the anger, frustration and tears I experienced, I would highly recommend this movie.

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