The Tribe

Apart from ambient sound, the world of The Tribe is silent: the film is set at an institute for the deaf in Kiev – director Miroslav Slaboshpytskiy doesn’t even subtitle the sign language used by his actors. Viewers must figure out the plot on the basis of the actors’ body language – and this works remarkably well. The director himself compares The Tribe to abstract dance and Japanese Kabuki theatre.
Slaboshpytskiy follows Sergei, a new pupil at the deaf institute. He undergoes cruel rites of initiation and becomes part of ‘the Tribe’, a gang of youths who pick pockets and prostitute other pupils. Sergei climbs up the hierarchy to pimp, but then falls in love with one of the girls – the beginning of a whole load of trouble.
Slaboshpytskiy’s ode to silent film is shot in long takes, at times from a fixed camera position, but also with Steadicam shots that follow the deaf amateur actors fluidly. Not exactly delicate, but highly fascinating. With Big Talk on Sat 24-1 in the theatre of Oude Luxor.