The Tribe

The Tribe is a film you should definitely put on your to-do list. The upcoming release from Drafthouse Films is a provocative, unnerving exercise in the value of show vs. tell, an affecting and layered drama that immerses the audience in the isolated world of its characters — a cast of deaf teenagers at a school in the Ukraine, who communicate entirely through sign language. There is no spoken dialogue or music, and the new trailer for the film effectively sells that premise.

There are brilliant and daring conceits that elevate and enhance the viewing experience of a film, and then there are shameless and hollow gimmicks that do little more than hook the viewer in and fail to deliver anything meaningful. 'The Tribe' both promises and delivers on the former with a premise and a narrative concept unlike anything in conventional cinema: a story told from the perspective of a Ukrainian boy attending a school for the deaf where everyone speaks in sign language, and we're given no voice over or subtitles to hold our hand.