Move rec: The Secret Life of Words

[sholio]

It's not very often that I'm so blown away by a movie that I have to hop on my LJ and rec it, but I watched The Secret Life of Words last night and loved it more than I've loved any movie in a long time. If you don't mind slow-paced, kinda art-house-ish films that hint at plot points more than explaining them, I highly recommend it. A hearing-impaired factory worker with severe social phobias, who doesn't talk unless she absolutely has to, takes a job as a caretaker for a blinded, badly burned roughneck on an oil drilling rig in the North Sea. He can't be moved because his condition is too unstable, so she comes to live on the drilling rig with a small group of men from different countries, all of them at loose ends because the rig's been shut down due to the fire, each with their own story and secrets.

Trigger warning: you should probably be very careful watching this movie if you would be triggered by (or simply don't want to see) [sexual-content-related spoilers] a character describing brutal rape and torture in detail; the events are not shown, but the physical scars and emotional aftermath are.

There's a trailer at apple.com (it's kinda spoilery; I'd recommend watching the movie unspoiled if you're like me and don't want any hints about how things turn out) and a page on the movie at the website of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, whose work was part of the Spanish writer/director Isabel Coixet's inspiration for making the film.

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I was blown away by that movie as well. Fantastic acting, writing, and establishment of tone, and really difficult subject matter treated with care and respect. Maybe my opinion would be different if I knew more about those wars or were or knew a survivor of such trauma, but that's where it stands.

I wrote about it at some point... ah, here: http://bironic.livejournal.com/87706.html

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Thanks for the warning; I think that's really not for me, and it's good to know that.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat -- I have no direct personal experience with anything like this (a good thing, I guess!), but to me it seemed like a very thoughtful and respectful portrayal that never felt voyeuristic, maudlin or too sentimental. It's not surprising to find out that the director was inspired by RL survivors' stories; it felt as if she tried hard to be respectful while still telling a compelling story.

I also really loved how the movie steered clear of so many of the cliches and tropes surrounding rape and physical or emotional disability. Of course none of that would have mattered if the actors and the writing hadn't brought the characters to life so well.

*trots off to read your review :D*

I pretty much agree with everything you said! (Except one thing: I think the captain was Russian?) Like you, I had no idea it would be so affecting when I started watching it; it built slowly and then it comes out of nowhere and swings and hits, before you know what happened. But in a good way!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Fair enough; it's certainly not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and that's why I mentioned it!