To me, this movie is perfection.

The Worst Film Ever

Fantastic!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

At some point while watching The Tribe, I realised I was being asked to take a side. Is this a fantastically ambitious, technically precise, artful slice-of-life look at the brutality humanity is capable of? Or is it an exploitative, immature, cinephile indulgence that insults the deaf community with its condescension. The litmus test of a bad movie is when you start to admire the technique, because it means you are not caught up in the story. The Tribe, in fact, sets out to ensure you are not caught up in the story: one scene one take long shots that carry on interminably is a rigorous aesthetic that craves an art-house stamp of approval, but the audience is doubly distanced by the signing interactions. This does not give a universal humanity to the deaf, it simply denies them a voice. This happens quite literally - like the director, I work near a deaf school and share a commute with the pupils. They are loud as hell, like all energetic schoolkids are. I can't imagine deaf Ukranian schoolkids are any different. Much has been made of the precise staging and blocking. But while I could admire the precise timing in some of the mise-en-scene, there are also amateurish moments, such as the slapstick fighting that is supposed to be the protagonist's rite of passage into the gang. The second half of the film seems to give up on any semblance of reality in plotting completely. The protagonist is conveniently hanging about when his romance interest gets her new passport, and there is a conveniently filled sink of water waiting when the bad boys get hold of him. A teacher is assaulted, possibly murdered, with no apparent consequences. I can't tell if this is a comment on societal indifference to brutality, or lazy screen writing. The pleasure in viewing The Tribe emerges from the mechanics of filmmaking, asking "How did they do that?": the violence, the sex scenes, the abortion sequence. As narrative, as catharsis, the film never engages and its gimmicks become weary. A clever film in many ways, perhaps a cynical one, and nowhere near as good as it thinks it is.

I was so looking forward to this! The trailer looked amazing and the hype and general consensus was that The Tribe was incredible. My word. I was so bored! So many components were poorly executed. The acting in general is quite bad, with a few minor exceptions, but I really think the directing makes it seem even worse than it is. The fight scenes are done with, what seems like no effort at all. I couldn't figure out the first fight. Were they trying some moves out for a school play. Some choreography the kids came up with in between classes. That's how it came off to me. The punches certainly don't actually make any contact. The sex scenes are so unrealistic. I mean they're not even close to each other, unless he's very well endowed (which he's not). The plot seems to have many holes in it as well. Where did all the adults go? Are all the truck drivers deaf and mute as well? Too many to list here. I understand it's quite an achievement to make a film with no dialogue whatsoever, and I think it had potential. The cinematography is pretty well done and the general overtone of the film has merit. The Tribe is a film I had high hopes for and was definitely looking forward to, but I just can't see what others are seeing. http://www.filmnotion.com/

'Plemya/The Tribe' conveys with raw brutality the silent world of the deaf and dumb, as when the older pimp is crushed to death by a reversing lorry, on one of the many nights when two girls from 'the tribe' solicit prostitution from truck drivers. Inspiring and sad by turns, the attitude of the characters in the movie, with the exception of the Down's syndrome boy, is beyond disability. They have worked through their impediments and learned to interact with the world inside and outside their institution, to achieve their intentions, whether good or bad, despite their physical limitations, even oblivious to them. Life inside the institution is bleak, with the only avenue for education and self-improvement being a carpentry class run by the institution's bus-driver. The perfect wooden hammer shaped by the model student, the misfit boy, eventually delivers the fatal blow to the teacher-carpenter, involved in a scam to send the blonde prostitute on a tourist visa to Italy. The movie illustrates how gang loyalties compensate for the lack of guidance in a young person's life. Being free from the shackles of accountability is a primary instigator for criminal activities, for monetary and in-kind rewards but also an antidote for boredom, frustration and idleness. At the end of this stunning movie, sadness is compounded by the realization that we do not have a single name to cross-check against the actors' names on the credit list. Is this a celebration of triumph over adversity? Hardly, but a compelling movie, nevertheless, on a taboo topic. cine girl

"The Tribe" is a huge step backwards in the history of film: a silent movie without subtitles or music. Somehow or other this film has been hailed as some sort of masterpiece. It isn't. More like the Emperor's New Clothes.Here are my top ten reasons for avoiding it at all costs:1. Pointless 2. Depressing 3. Overlong 4. Confusing 5. Slow 6. Badly acted 7. Full of unlikable characters 8. Insulting to deaf people 9. Insulting to non-deaf people 10. Ridiculously violent.There is absolutely reason I can think of to see this film. You will not gain anything. You will not learn anything. You will only be depressed, and like seeing a car accident, you will wish you hadn't looked in the first place. "The Tribe" or "Plemya" is simply more evidence that Cannes juries go for anything that seems documentary-like and seems to capture some sort of reality -- despite a lack of sympathetic characters or a compelling story. And if there are no actual actors involved, no dialogue and no soundtrack, all the better. Congratulations, here's your prize.