A searing indictment of the UK's indictment of the UK's social service system if ever there was one, Listen is basically a low-budget film about a poor Portuguese couple living in London who have their kids taken away under the most dubious of circumstances.
Their little girl is deaf with bruises on her back, the son is violently ill and the other one is just a baby who won't stop crying. Not an ideal day for the welfare checkers to come a-knocking you might say, and once the adoption process stops it's very hard to stop.
Listen has good acting from all participants (apart from the kid who plays the little boy, he seemed a bit too 'polished' to me) and a very believable plot to boot which must be every mother's worst nightmare. It could easily have been longer though, with the most abrupt of endings arriving at around the 70 minute mark.
A shame really, as with a bit more time spent on the narrative and a few extra scenes this could've been something a bit special. Instead, we have a decent piece of cinema which feels as a whole unsatisfying with a pretty disappointing conclusion.
Ah well. It was worth watching once at least. 5/10.
Their little girl is deaf with bruises on her back, the son is violently ill and the other one is just a baby who won't stop crying. Not an ideal day for the welfare checkers to come a-knocking you might say, and once the adoption process stops it's very hard to stop.
Listen has good acting from all participants (apart from the kid who plays the little boy, he seemed a bit too 'polished' to me) and a very believable plot to boot which must be every mother's worst nightmare. It could easily have been longer though, with the most abrupt of endings arriving at around the 70 minute mark.
A shame really, as with a bit more time spent on the narrative and a few extra scenes this could've been something a bit special. Instead, we have a decent piece of cinema which feels as a whole unsatisfying with a pretty disappointing conclusion.
Ah well. It was worth watching once at least. 5/10.