The Silence (2010) User Reviews

It's not so much the mystery, but the people involved in it.

[nesfilmreviews · 8/10 · 1 August 2013]

Suspense fans tired of low-brow, explicit exploitation movies may want to check out "The Silence," an absorbing German thriller that delivers the suspense without sacrificing the drama. At a confident and steady pace, the script allows the characters to develop powerful, yet subtle performances.

On July 8th, 1986, a eleven year old girl Pia (Helene Doppler) is raped and murdered by Peer (Ulrich Thomsen) while a second man, Timo (Wotan Wilke Möhring), watches with equal parts of disgust and arousal. The two dispose of the body and return home, but while Peer began to destroy any potential evidence, Timo has already packed and boarded a bus out of town. 23 years later, to the very day, another young girl goes missing with only her bike and bag left behind at the very spot where Pia was abducted years ago. Writer/director Baran bo Odar's film, "The Silence," follows the distraught families, the police, and the two men behind the original unsolved case in a story that explores grief and guilt, obsession and duty.

It's a well-acted, emotion-charged drama whose murder mystery is almost secondary to the human element. It's a complex examination of the many facets of humanity in which even those who commit the most heinous acts aren't complete monsters. The film is about tragedy and the everlasting impact on those involved, from the victims to the perpetrators.

Director Baran bo Odar maintains a sense of morbid fascination in a film that in someone else's hands might become overwhelmingly unpleasant. Despite its nearly two-hour running time, it never becomes dull or depressing, thanks in part to large cast of characters whose nuanced portrayals strike a chord of truth -- terrifyingly so for any parent. Even though the conclusion isn't exactly overpowering, the journey is remarkably nuanced and compelling – and most certainly an uncomfortable one.

A different crime drama with a superb performance by Wotan Wilke Möhring.

[Fella_shibby · 8/10 · 16 June 2021]

I saw this for the first time recently n got pleasantly surprised.

Fans of Marshland, True Detective S1 n S3, The Treatment, Memories of Murder, etc will definitely enjoy this.

In 1986 an 11-year-old schoolgirl, is raped and murdered by Peer Sommer while his friend Timo watches silently from the passenger seat of his car.

Timo leaves after Pia's murder, to Sommer's dismay.

In 2009, exactly 23 years later, a 13-year-old girl goes missing and her bicycle is discovered in the same spot where the first crime happened.

Senior detective Mittich, who investigated the original murder takes an interest in the new case, but he is blocked from participating by the new senior detective.

At times the movie is very poignant considering so many characters are shattered n everyone gave good performances.

But Wotan Wilke Möhring who played Timo gave an outstanding performance.

I wud have easily rated it a 9 but for two reasons i didn't.

The 1982 murder was never solved for us audiences.

And why did the cops didnt try to locate the phone's location of Sinikka? She was carrying a phone n when her dad tried calling her, the killer threw the phone.

And no one dared disturb the sound of silence

[Coventry · 8/10 · 10 November 2014]

"Das Letzte Schweigen" a.k.a. "The Silence" is a sleeper thriller that genuinely shocked and dumbfounded me, but mainly AFTER it was finished! It's the type of film that slowly gets under your skin and the true horror of the plot only hits you afterwards, because you are subconsciously analyzing and re-processing the agitating events over and over again. It was quite a harsh confrontation for me, especially because I'm into dark and devastating horror & cult cinema for nearly two decades now and I have seen numerous of allegedly controversial movies. But "The Silence" is largely different to anything I have ever seen before. It's an extremely slow and moody tale full of totally messed up characters (not a single one qualifies as even remotely normal) and horrifying events & themes that are depicted in a nihilistic and almost everyday fashion. The plot gradually unfolds and the viewer absorbs everything that is coming at him/her, but the truly evil nature of the denouement and the injustice of the climax only hit you – and quite hard, I may add - once the end credits are rolling over the screen. The story starts in a remote little German town in the summer of 1986. Two young men, who share the disgusting passion of watching child pornography (it's not explicitly shown but clearly suggested), are driving around in their red Volkswagen when they spot an 11-year-old girl bike-riding on a dirt road. One of them, Peer Sommer, viciously rapes and murders the defenselessly screaming girl while his pal Timo remains motionless and petrified in the car. Shortly after the incident, Timo flees away from Peer in an attempt to forget everything that has happened and start a new life elsewhere. 23 years later, on the exact same day and on the exact same place, the bicycle and a couple of blood stains of 13-year-old Sinikka Weghamm are discovered. The disappearance of the girl is a nightmare for her parents, but also for the mother of the still unsolved previous murder case as well as for the police officers – retired and incompetent new ones – that are charged with the case. Is it the work of a copycat killer or has the original killer returned? The truth is even more nightmarish than anything you can think of. "The Silence" benefices from a continuously foreboding atmosphere and the gradually revealed details of the case make you uncomfortable. At several points during the movie, you'll find yourself cursing and screaming at the screen in an attempt to speed up the slow police investigation. Themes like child murder and pedophilia automatically make any thriller disturbing, but the sober tone and bleak characters in "The Silence" are almost unbearable. Young director Baran Bo Odar maintains the nail-biting ambiance throughout the entire film and all the acting performances, particularly those of Ulrich Thomsen and Wotan Wilke Möhring, are deeply impressive. There are definitely some plot holes to detect regarding the police investigation and the involvement of the media, but somehow it feels like a factual murder case really could be as ineptly led as this one. The total absence of music, humor and certain background explanations only make the film more haunting. This definitely isn't viewing material for everyone, but highly recommended to thriller fanatics in search of a mature and complex story.

Where past sins always come back to haunt.

[RJBurke1942 · 13 November 2011]

Most murders are committed by people who know their victim, a fact that is standard fare in most whodunits. Rarely are murders committed at random, although the recent horrific thriller Funny Games (1997, remade 2007) presents the worst possible scenario.

But random murders do occur in real life: all over the world, people disappear and forever remain 'dead' with family and friends who are forever in limbo, unable to achieve closure. Only sometimes are the perpetrators caught.

With that thematic background, The Silence presents just that scenario with the rape and murder of a young female teen that remains on the books of the local police for 23 years – until it happens again to another teen, on the same day of the year, at the same place, and with the same modus operandi.

Unlike other serial killer movies – for example, The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – we know the identity of the killer from the get-go. Moreover, we also immediately know there are two perpetrators, although one of them is obviously reluctant to participate, even passively as he watches. As the two criminals, Ulrich Thomsen (as Peer Sommer) and Woltan Mohring (as Timo Friedrich) give strong and believable performances that center upon their individual but similar proclivities for depravity: brave actors both to take on such abhorrent roles.

But why a gap of 23 years? Well, that's where the story really starts, after we see the first murder in the first five minutes. And when the second murder occurs, so also occurs the retirement party for the local police detective (Krischan Mittich played by Burghart Klaussner) who failed to solve the first; so also the return to duty of an eccentric, grieving, widowed officer (David Jahn played by Sebastian Blomberg) who is obviously still distraught by the loss of his wife (to cancer) and who engages in bizarre activity; and so also the emotional awakening of the mother of the first murdered teen (Elena Lange played by Katrin Sass), who has been locked in unrelenting grief for over twenty years.

And in that mix there is repressed and introverted Timo – now a successful architect, beautiful home, lovely wife, two munchkins, the works – who, when he reads about the second murder, knows immediately who it is and decides something must be done… But, what?

As the police investigate, and as the clues are revealed, the net – so to speak – tightens without the two miscreants knowing. But, as viewers, we know it all, and gradually we move to the edge of our seat as we see how the wrong decisions are made, how the wrong inferences are drawn, how actions by one can be misconstrued by another all too easily, and ultimately how facts can be ignored or discarded for political expediency or professional jealousy and for the need to close a case, once and for all.

Arguably, suspenseful story doesn't get much better than this; although some viewers might argue about narrative holes and coincidence. However, because it's so believable it's so much better, especially the ending which I'm sure many – maybe most – viewers will not see coming, including me. Only in the last thirty seconds, perhaps… when the full irony hits you between the eyes.

The setting is semi-rural, ordinary and faultless; the production is well paced, even at two hours; the dramatic acting – there is absolutely no comic relief – is flawless; and the direction is so good, well, a glance or look truly is more effective than a thousand words. The background music is appropriate but, at times, borders on clichéd, I think. However, this is a movie I'll watch again – not only for the story but also for the narrative structure that combines so many different threads of lives shattered by indifference, inaction, inadequacy or inconsolable sadness.

Highly recommended.

November 2011.

An outstanding crime, thriller from Germany

[ajit2106 · 7/10 · 2 July 2012]

When the bicycle of a 13-year-old Sinikka is discovered in the exact same wheat field where a heinous murder/rape took place 23 years prior, retired police detective Krischan senses that the two crimes are connected, and vows to bring the killer to justice. The fact that Krischan was unable to catch the killer two decades prior still haunts him to this very day, but perhaps with the help of ambitious young officer David, this time he will find a way to bring closure to the case. Later, as the investigation begins and a sweltering summer heat wave washes over the town, the young victim's parents begin to experience an overwhelming sense of dread concerning a clean cut husband and father who had recently visited their home.

This slow-paced thriller is stunning by all means. The characterization is very well done and cinematography is amazing showing the semi-rural countryside of Germany, the camera angles are fantastic explaining many things about the characters.

The narration is amazing because it has so many ends to tie and agony of the characters has been portrayed impeccably. The direction is watertight; everything is well placed and told significantly.

An original thriller from Swiss born Baran bo Odar, kudos to him.

Recommended to quality cinema lovers.

8/10

Relentless Study of the Pedophile Mind

[l_rawjalaurence · 7/10 · 21 May 2016]

Baran bo Odar's film begins almost wordlessly on a sunny day in 1986. Two men driving along in a red car (Ulrich Thomsen, Wotan Wilke Möhring) encounter a young girl riding a bicycle (Helene Doppler). They pursue her into a cornfield where one of the men rapes her, kills her with a blow to the head and dumps her corpse in an adjacent lake.

Fast forward to 2009, and one of the two men (Möhring) has become a successful architect, married with two children, while the other (Thomsen) works full-time as a caretaker. The memory of that traumatic occasion haunts both of them, creating a complicated web of lies, deceit and implication that leads to the murder of another young girl (Anna-Lena Klenke).

The film's title not only refers to the silence practiced by the perpetrators of the original crime in 1986, but also describes other people's state of mind. For twenty-three years the murdered girl's mother (Katrin Sass) has kept silent about her harrowing ordeal; likewise the police inspector (Burghart Klaussner) who was involved in the original investigation but failed to achieve a result. It is only after this lengthy time-lapse that they decide to come out and voice their feelings, as well as trying to reconcile themselves to what happened in the past.

Shot in garishly bright colors (by Nikolaus Summerer) creating a world of apparently endless summer weather that nonetheless appears highly dystopian, THE SILENCE offers an insight into the pedophile mind, which often thinks it is doing nothing wrong, even while taking a perverted pleasure in watching child porn videos. The film also takes a look at the ways in which such people are allowed to flourish in societies that prefer to turn their collective backs on such unpleasant issues in the belief that everyone is fundamentally well-intentioned. bo Odar's film proves precisely the opposite; it is often the outwardly most respectable people that prove the most dangerous.

Original crime thriller

[rubenm · 7/10 · 15 April 2012]

It's been quite a while since we've seen a pregnant policewoman on the cinema screen. Since 1996 to be exact, when Frances McDormand played the slow but efficient crime-solver Marge Gunderson in Fargo.

Jana Gläser, the pregnant policewoman in Das Letzte Schweigen (The Last Silence), unfortunately is not as efficient as Marge. At one point, she looks the killer in the eye, holds the evidence in her hand, asks the right questions, but nevertheless lets him go. Not because she doesn't do a good job, but because the circumstances work against her.

This German film, about the killing of a little girl on the exact same spot where 23 years before another girl was raped and killed, is not a classic whodunit. We know who committed the crime. What the film maker shows us, is how this new killing opens old wounds that were not really healed after the first one. A retired police officer tries to solve the case because he failed the first time. The mother of the first victim has to live through the whole thing once again, because she gets involved in solving the new crime. And, most intriguing, the accomplice of the first killer gets emotionally shocked by this new and almost identical crime.

Apart from the very good script, this film stands out because of the original cinematography. There are beautiful shots and original camera angles throughout the film. Just an example: when the first killers drive their car out of the garage, this is shown with an aerial shot of almost geometrical quality. Near the end of the film, we see almost the same shot when the killer drives his car into the garage. Another beautiful shot, full of suspense, is the one where we see the car of the killers back up on the road when they see the little girl ride her bike on a dirt road in the woods.

The film is shot in Bavaria. The brightly coloured shots of spotless streets and lush landscapes contrast with the inner feelings of the characters. Almost every one of them has some sort of problem. This creates an atmosphere of uneasiness, which is emphasized by repeated fast- motion shots of rolling clouds. Das Letzte Schweigen is an original crime thriller, with lots of extra qualities to make it stand out above the average.

Most times the audience gets a happy ending...but in some instances reality over rules

[Ed-Shullivan · 8/10 · 20 August 2015]

From the get go we the audience find out who the perpetrators are, who is the aggressor and who is the submissive accomplice to the first rape and murder of a young girl riding home on her bicycle in 1986. As the two criminals, Ulrich Thomsen (as Peer Sommer) and Woltan Mohring (as Timo Friedrich) lives unfold over the next 23 years we observe the police relentless pursuit of what they believe to be a single rapist and murderer. Families of the victim and police are heart broken and suffer immense internal pain and personal break ups in their respective marriages. We the audience can't wait to see how these two evil doers will be discovered and justice will prevail.

Then, 23 years later we witness another young girl arguing with her parents about her school grades and in a retaliatory stance she takes off with her back pack and tennis racket under the pretense that if her father won't drive her to the tennis court she will get there on her own. Instead once outside of her parents near grasp she heads to the amusement park to meet her friends who don't show up at the amusement park. As dusk falls she decides to ride her bike home alone, but a cars bright headlights are following her and within the time it takes the audience to take a deep breath, she disappears and is announced by the police and media as another missing person.

Who killed her? We are not sure but we have a pretty good idea. The submissive perpetrator Timo Friedrich, who now has a loving wife and two children of his own is still haunted by the 1986 murder and decides to confront the alpha dog Peer Sommer. Will they attempt to capture, rape and torture another girl now that they are back together, or will they attempt to kill each other to maintain "The Silence"?

In the true sense of the thriller genre we the audience with our investigative and limited analytical brains scrambling trying to figure how this will end are witness to a sad but true to life ending that has occurred all around the world with the senseless murders of so many young girls and with the unknown and continued silence of the who and why? The police force who have been on this case for the past 23 years celebrate the lead investigators retirement with new detectives vigorously re-opening the original case now that a second missing girl has been reported missing in the exact same location. There is much tension in the ways and means the investigation should be handled by the lead detective and his captain.

This film is well worth a watch even with English sub titles. It will capture your heart and soul for a different outcome then the silence. A strong 8 out of 10 rating is deserved for this German released film.

Familiar story of murder and small-town secrets

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 27 March 2013]

THE SILENCE is a German murder mystery that's heavily indebted to two separate sources: firstly, the whole look and mood of the currently-popular Scandinavian cop shows (such as THE KILLING), from which the style of music is frequently ripped off (like that whole thing with a single, deep note held for a while). Meanwhile, the plot and police investigation bear more than a hint of the exceptional South Korean drama, MEMORIES OF MURDER.

What follows is predictable but occasionally highly gripping, and strangely enough different sub-plots in the movie have different levels of interest. I admit that I found the whole police investigation to be pretty dull; there isn't actually much investigating taking place, and it all seems very slow and stately. The scenes of grieving parents are so familiar by now that they didn't affect me at all.

A second, alternate part of the film follows the friendship between two men, one of whom is a paedophile and murderer. This part of the film is exceptionally, dealing with dodgy subject matter in an intensely gripping way. Ulrich Thomsen (from THE THING remake) and Wotan Wilke Mohring are both very good here, and I would have much preferred the whole film to concentrate on these two by doing away with the predictable police stuff altogether. However, what we're left with is a real film of two halves; one's powerful stuff indeed, and the other's best forgotten.

Stunning German Thriller

[mikelang42 · 10/10 · 1 May 2012]

This stunning first German film from Swiss director Baran bo Odar is on the taboo English subject of Paedophiles. The film opens with a rape and murder of an 11 year old girl in a beautiful but deadly cornfield, her body thrown in to a lake.Forward 23 years and the same thing happens in the same place.This is not a who is the child molester film you know or think you do from the start. The ending is just jaw dropping. If you liked the Danish thriller The Killing or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or the other recent Australian film Snowtown this is the film for you.It is very bleak and in places hard to watch due to the subject but if you can manage that this is a must see. The acting by all the cast of which i knew no one is brilliant.The film looks stunning all of it's 120 mins. There is no let up at all.A must see for those of you with guts of steel.

Particularly German, but ultimately diffuse

[paul2001sw-1 · 7/10 · 28 March 2013]

'The Silence' is a dour, multi-perspective thriller, telling the story of a murder investigation and its links to another killing twenty years before. The film effectively conveys a strong sense of a contemporary German environment, making the mundane seem very particular, but somehow the whole thing doesn't quite gel: there are too many points of view to make the viewer care about any one, and the mystery depends on an unlikely motive, with a deliberately inscrutable ending. For me the real problem came in the scene where two policemen fight over the hunch that one of them has: it's just not convincing that either of them would care so much. It's a rare case, in my opinion, of a movie that might have benefited from just a little Hollywood showmanship.

Complex, mind-bending psychological thriller

[Buddy-51 · 9/10 · 2 October 2013]

Based on the novel by Jan Costin Wagner, "The Silence" is a fascinating, beautifully realized crime drama from Germany.

The movie centers around two identical crimes, both occurring at the identical place, though 23 years apart. Both involve the murder and possible rape of a young girl biking alone through an isolated meadow.

The script by Baran bo Odar examines the case from the viewpoints of the perpetrators, the victims, the victims' families, and the law enforcement officials who have some pretty intense psychological issues of their own to deal with. The life-shattering impact on the parents, along with their inconsolable grief, the frustrations of the investigators, the remorse and guilt (or lack thereof) on the part of the criminals - all are woven into a rich tapestry that mixes crime-and-detection elements with generous dollops of morbid psychology.

The most interesting character is Timo Friedrich (superbly enacted by Wotan Wilke Mohring), an "accomplice" to the initial crime and a prime suspect in the second, who has so many inner demons of his own to account for that he has become utterly consumed by feelings of guilt and self-loathing.

Unlike in the typical American police procedural, the investigators here are not played by drop-dead gorgeous movie stars but by frumpy, slightly saggy and balding middle-aged performers who look like actual honest-to-God people you might encounter in real life. And all are excellent.

In addition, the movie doesn't cater to the audience's desire for a clear-cut resolution, and in so doing, acknowledges that life does not always work out the way it does in the movies.

Odar's direction is both spare and slightly surreal at times, so that the world he's portraying always feels strangely off-kilter, as befits the subject matter.

A triumph for all concerned, "The Silence" is easily one of the best movies of 2013 thus far.

good psychological thriller

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 29 May 2015]

In 1986, an 11 year old girl Pia is raped and murdered in a wheat field near a small German town by one man while another watched. Her bicycle was left in the field and the killer was never found. The man who watched takes off after the murder. Twenty three years later, 13 year old Sinikka Weghamm goes missing after the local fair. Her bicycle is found at the site of Pia murder.

This is another dark psychological crime thriller. It is a good representation of the ugliness amidst the normal everyday society. The dark subject matter is normal for these types of movies nowadays. It would be shocking 20 years ago. Today, it's on network TV. The actors do a fine depicting these characters under stress. It remains intriguing until the end.

Loneliness of the long-distance murderer

[Lejink · 5/10 · 24 March 2013]

Heralded as a German rival for "The Killing", I expected more from this still unsettling subtitled crime drama. Centring on two identical murders some 23 years apart, while we're clearly shown the perpetrator of the first murder, the identity of the second slayer is kept from us until close to the end, but isn't difficult to work out. The film I suspect fancies itself more as a psychological analyses of disturbed individuals rather than a more conventional murder mystery, but fails largely due to inconsistencies in the writing especially the numerous unlikely alliances made by various parties in the narrative. There's an awful lot of pairing which goes on, on all sides of the fence but many seem too unrealistic and unnatural to convince, especially the key one involving the murderer and his abettor but also the disturbed, recently widowed detective and his obviously pregnant partner not to mention the retired but still rebellious detective from te first murder landing up in the bed of the first victim's mother. I especially didn't get the heart-on his-sleeve widower detective who resembles a slightly deranged Daniel Day Lewis and who seemingly is given largesse by his superior to openly question and indeed harangue the latter's orders but who of course cracks the case with an observation I got to before he did himself. The film dwells at length on the grief processes of sundry parties to the extent that you feel it forgets it should primarily be dealing with the emotive subject of child-murder. Also I am fast growing tired of those several aerial-perspective tracker shots plus I felt just too many scenes were unlikely not to mention unbelievable. I want greatly struck by the acting either so that in the end it just came across to me as an over-earnest, over-ambitious but ultimately over-dull police-procedural

Two identical crimes twenty three years apart

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 23 March 2013]

This film opens in 1986; two men in a car follow a young girl as she cycles down a farm track; one of them gets out, rapes and murders her. The other man does nothing to stop him but leaves town almost immediately afterwards. Returning to the present we see another young girl cycling away from home after an argument with her parents. She does not return and her bicycle is found at the site of the previous killing. No body is found but that matches with the original case where it wasn't found for some time. The police obviously realise the two cases are connected and after further investigations it looks as if there may have been a third girl although as her disappearance wasn't the same they are unsure; all they know is that a red car was seen at the time and one was seen at the same time as the 1986 case. Before learning exactly who killed the girl and why we don't just see the police investigation but also the effect it has had on her family and the actions of the two men we saw at the start; one of who is clearly trying to get back in touch with the other.

This German crime drama was quite interesting in the way that it didn't only follow the police but also the families of the two missing girls and the men responsible for their grief. This led to some uncomfortable scenes when one of the two went to visit the mother of the first girl and later when a pregnant police woman visits the other to ask about the car he drove in the eighties. The actors did a good job although some of the characters were a little cliché; the main policeman was dealing with the death of his own wife and he disagreed with his boss about the case for example. The way the action moved between the protagonists kept the story interesting in a way that could be disturbing at times; this sense was heightened by the music used. Without giving blatant spoilers I will say the resolution is quite disturbing although given what had gone before it didn't exactly shock me. Overall I'd say this was worth watching but I'm not sure it is the sort of film I'd want to watch more than once.

Pretty decent crime movie

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 5 February 2016]

"Das letzte Schweigen" or "Das Schweigen" or "The Silence" is a German crime thriller from six years ago. The writer and director is Baran bo Odar and this was his second movie, not counting an early short film he made. I saw in his profile that he was born in Switzerland, but I am not sure about the origin of his name. It sounds a bit Danish to me, so it's fitting that Ulrich Thomsen, one of Denmark's finest actors, plays a major character in here. The film is about two child murders, one that took place almost 25 years ago and one that takes place in the now. Is it the same killer? The fact that we find out very early about what exactly happened in the past implies that it's not, but no further spoilers.

The cast includes a handful really famous names from Germany, such as Klaußner, Saß, Möhring, Blomberg, Michelsen... so it's not much of a surprise that the film got some recognition, in terms of popularity as well as awards, even if it did not get as popular as the filmmaker's most recent work "Who Am I". I personally enjoyed the watch overall. What I liked maybe most about it is that it did not take the easy route at all. Basically all the plot developments in here are not by the books at all and that includes the ending as well as the killer's motivation for his crime. Very well-done and well-written. Sadly, there are also areas when the movie is not particularly well-written. This is mostly about the characters' relationships, such as the stereotypical death of one major character's wife or the relationship between Saß' and Klaußner's character, which was pretty ridiculous, even if it had a touch of "Goodbye Lenin" to it obviously.

As a whole, I recommend the movie. For a German crime thriller, it is fairly good and way better than 90% of "Tatort" episodes. The good certainly outweighs the bad. A lot of it is due to the strong acting by basically everybody involved, even if Saß plays pretty much the same character as usual. It's especially worth seeing because it is a pretty daring film and you do not have to expect anything stereotypically bad to happen during these almost 2 hours. Thumbs up. Give it a go if you like the genre and get a chance to see it. Nicely atmospheric little movie.

Silence is golden.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 9/10 · 18 May 2016]

Talking to family friend Guy Morgan over the weekend,I found out that he had caught the ending of a wonderful sounding Neo-Noir from Germany on BBC4. Taking a look on BBC iPlayer,I was pleased to find that the title would be kept on for a week,which led to me getting ready to find out how silent things could be.

View on the film:

Making his (feature) film debut,writer/director Baran bo Odar reveals that the best way to make an entrance is not with a bang,but a sinister,silent scream. Opening up Pia's murder in flashbacks,Odar and cinematographer Nikolaus Summerer soak the movie in an evil under the sun Neo-Noir atmosphere,where the sun-kissed fields and neatly cut parks are a cover for the foreboding "ghosts" and blood covered hands which have not faded over the passage of time.

Placing everything on a knife edge, Odar digs into a rich Neo-Noir mood by pulling Pas de Deux great score back,and treading on the stench of death on Friedrich,by brilliantly lingering on Friedrich pass a comfortable point,and also subtly placing a wide "gap" between Friedrich and everyone he meets.

Taken from the pages of Jan Costin Wagner's novel,the screenplay by Odar makes sure to not approach the killers in an apologetic manner,with Odar instead making sure that Friedrich's lingering memories of death are always bubbling just under the surface.

Suspecting a link between the two murders, Odar makes Jahn's search for the links one that brings up no easy answers,from former lead cop Mittich putting a brick wall up against any of Jahn's ideas,to Odar bringing up the silences to deliver a devastating Neo-Noir final note,as Jahn discovers that his fellow cops are more interested in putting a false bow of hope on the Neo- Noir doubts,and not breaking the deadly silence.

Utterly brilliant

[sambson · 10/10 · 19 March 2015]

There were moments when I felt a connection between this film and SE7EN (1995), but that didn't prevail. When it was over, I realized only one other film had so adeptly hit the same marks - M (1931). There is a brilliance in character insight here, rarely paralleled in cinema. You're aware of the innermost turmoils of every character, and it is scripted in such a way that there are moments when you're being hit with intense turmoil from upwards of 4-5 characters at once. Each in a different brief scene, each privately (so only the audience and that character know what they're feeling) and each adding to the complexity of what the others are going through by juxtaposition. Smart, smart, smart. Saw this on NetFlix. I doubt I would've found it otherwise. I will be ordering it. Who says digital content is hurting the movies? I just voted with my money, but not for Hollywood.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!

[postsenthil · 9/10 · 27 October 2019]

Two murders separated by more than two decades.. committed at the same place .. victims sharing similar profiles..

A very different thriller, devoid of gore & kinetics associated with the genre... grows on you gradually ... A whydunit instead of the regular whodunit..

Moving at a meditative pace which could border on the glacial, this thriller plumbs great depths into the minds of its characters sinking in melancholy ..

A plot that is unconvincing where it is not actually unintelligible

[clewis2666 · 3/10 · 17 May 2016]

Beware! This review is crammed full of spoilers. I have no problem with the acting, the music or the photography. My problem lies with the script. In short, I did not fully, or even mostly, understand what was going on. The main thing I did not understand was which of the two miscreants committed the second murder. According to the subtitles the second murder did not involve any paedophile element, unlike the first murder, and therefore we are presumably being led to believe that it was committed by the accomplice and not the main murderer. The subtitles also told us that the presumption of the police was that whoever committed the second murder did so in order to attract the attention of the other member of the duo, though why he felt such a desire to meet him again after so long was not clear. The idea that either of them would imperil themselves by committing a murder merely for the purpose of sending a signal to the other member of the duo is little short of fatuous. Even a paedophile, let alone someone who has not committed any crime except to sit and watch a murder and do nothing about it, does not go out to murder a girl without a sexual assault merely to send out a signal. So what is going on here? Also there were too many different strands going on here, most of them adding nothing to the plot would apparently being there to add some sort of colour to the narrative. You have the former detective who beds the grieving widow. You have the shambling youngish detective, half bonkers with grief for his deceased wife You have the weird behaviour of the accomplice who goes to chat to the original widow (having years before witnessed her daughter's murder); and then, in a manner again I did not properly understand, she suspects that he was party to the death of her child and so informs the police (I think I've got that right). Worst of all, somewhere in the middle of the film they introduce a third girl victim, who seems some years before to have been kidnapped by the main murderer, tortured on a video, and then presumably killed. That aspect of the plot completely baffled me. Why was it there in the first place? I also found the fact that the original murderous paedophile got away with it a thoroughly unattractive ending to the film. So you can see that I actively disliked the film.

Silent Scream of Dispair

[sergepesic · 9/10 · 5 March 2014]

Orderly, tidy, more than slightly boring German suburbia. Decent, law abiding, disciplined people, or so it seems at first sight. "Silence", brilliant German movie about crime without punishment. Or at least without legal consequences for a horrendous deed. And such a perfectly fitting title for this film. There is a lot of silence among these people. Some of it comes from loneliness, some from lack of communication, some from shameful secrets. But above all hangs the silent scream of despair. Such heartbreaking bottomless despair. The one that stretches with endless time of grief, regret or just empty nothing. All, the guilty and the innocent suffocating without the end in sight. Amazing film.

Study of phedophile

[ravijani · 8/10 · 7 March 2020]

Baran bo odar is easily one of my favorite German director. With silence he contributed a slow pace /crime / drama. It's more of a charecter study and theme is very dark. If you're looking for a realistic presentation then do check it.

German Film Noir

[georgep53 · 8/10 · 24 March 2013]

If you're in the mood for a dark, compelling police procedural "The Silence" is well worth seeing. In Germany 1986 an 11 year old girl is murdered while bicycling home. Years later the community must come to grips with a similar murder of another young girl and the realization that they have a serial killer in their midst. The police response consists of a bureaucratic, supervising detective primarily concerned with allaying public fears; a detective who commiserates with the victims' families but who's also struggling with the loss of his wife to natural causes and a retired detective anxious to not allow the killer to escape justice this time. Director Baran bo Odar does an excellent job of creating a chilling atmosphere that never slackens. The term "nail biter" may be overused but I feel it's entirely justified in this case. The evil depicted here seems all the more terrifying because it is so banal. Almost like a Nordic "Fargo" this community hardly seems as if a dark day would descend on it and yet the rustic fields and lakes yield horrors. The cast is first rate especially Ulrich Thomsen and Wotan Wilke Mohring. Katrin Sab gives a beautifully controlled performance as the mother of the original victim. Sebastian Blomberg is the detective who spends as much time fighting his own demons as working on the case.

One of those arty German films to steer clear of

[pawebster · 4/10 · 25 March 2013]

Oh dear. Germany has produced quite a few films like this. They contain long, long silences, which are meant to be artistic and profound. In fact, the result is often boredom, and perhaps even worse than that, a lack of proper development of the situation, the characters and the plot. It's as if any German (or Swiss, in this case) director worth his or her salt must disdain anything that might smack of conventional, clichéd storytelling. Unfortunately, they just swap them for other clichés and become lethargic in the process. Apparently this film has been compared to the Killing (the Danish TV serial) and I can see some similarities - except that the Danes know how to combine the elegaic with interesting characters and a story that moves.

It's a shame, because there are good actors in here, especially Möhring and Blomberg. The latter might overact a bit, but he is nevertheless compelling to watch.

I can't recommend it.

Unbelievably Enthralling

[Eric_Cubed · 9/10 · 11 January 2015]

If you have seen the excellent French Thriller "Tell No One" and was captivated as I was, then you will enjoy this movie. The subject matter, though, is very, very hard to swallow. I actually had to fast forward for a few merciful seconds in a few parts. I just can't stand seeing kids raped and murdered, no matter how artistic or ambiguous the scene is. So, you should fast forward too, and then enjoy this awesome and endlessly engaging movie. The ambiance, the script and the acting make you feel as though are there, in it, as it is happening. Unlike prisoners, which was good, no doubt about it, this movie takes the genre to a whole new level (a side-note: why is it that Hollywood always rips away the gritty realism of the thing into a showcase for superstars and formula? European films are not like this). This movie takes the relationship to time with respect efficacy, you are never confused about what is then and what is now. A great film, I would give it a ten, but that is reserved for a The Godfather.