Silent Scream

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Movie
German title Silent Scream
Original title Silent case
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1994
length 101 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
(12 video, cut)
Rod
Director Bruce Beresford
script Akiva Goldsman
production James G. Robinson
music Stewart Copeland
camera Peter James
cut Ian Crafford
occupation

Silent Scream (Original title: Silent Fall ) is a thriller by Bruce Beresford from 1994 with Richard Dreyfuss in the lead role. It premiered on October 28, 1994, in Germany it opened in cinemas on May 11, 1995.

action

The Warden couple are brutally murdered in their bedroom. The police get stuck in their search for the perpetrator, because the only witness to the crime is nine-year-old Tim. The Wardens' son appears to be autistic and does not speak a word. The psychologist Jake Rainer is now supposed to find out what the intimidated boy who faces him with a blood-smeared knife the first time he meets knows. Jake does not want to take on the difficult case at first, as he actually stopped his work after he could not prevent a young patient from drowning in the lake. It also turns out that the murdered Mrs. Warden cheated and was once his patient.

But Tim's 18-year-old sister Sylvie, who hid in the closet after the crime, finally persuades Jake. Because the alternative would be a treatment with Dr. Harlinger, who tries to force Tim to talk with drugs and a straitjacket . Jake gradually manages to develop a relationship with the boy so that he no longer sees him as a stranger. Using a card game as an example, he explains to Sylvie that autistic people always think in a logical order. They can only remember an event B if they also know A. You have to find this starting point with Tim.

In the end, chance comes to the rescue. Sylvie injures her hand and when Jake replies "Damn!" her brother suddenly starts talking. He has recorded the voices that were heard at the time of the crime like a tape recorder and is now imitating them. This brings the solution closer, but a short time later Jake still wants to give up. Tim has climbed the roof and the psychologist can only save him from falling with difficulty. His wife, a prosecutor , eventually persuades Jake.

But then Dr. Harlinger a. When he panics Tim under hypnosis, Tim reveals undreamt-of physical strength. The doctor has thus proven that, contrary to previous views, Tim is strong enough to inflict the stab wounds on his parents. There is also a motif now. The sheriff shows Jake nude photos of Tim. The boy was sexually abused by his pedophile father .

After the sheriff gives Jake a final day of treatment, events unfold in a dramatic fashion. Sylvie drugged the psychologist, who she believed failed, with the drugs he gave her to treat her anxiety. She pulls him outside on the frozen lake, where she wants to drown him. However, Tim sees the action. With a disguised voice he simulates a call from the sheriff and lures his sister out of the house. He goes to the lake and pulls Jake out. When Sylvie returns to the house armed with a pistol, she meets the two of them in their parents' bedroom. She aims at Jake, but the psychologist now knows exactly what happened at the crime scene. Not Tim, but Sylvie murdered the father and the mother who happened to be present when Mr. Warden tried to assault his son again. Because the daughter had also previously been a victim of sexual abuse. Sylvie threatens to shoot Jake, but Tim stands in front of him and speaks in his own voice for the first time.

In the epilogue one finally learns that Tim was adopted by Jake and his wife and that the lawyer obtained a mild sentence for Sylvie.

criticism

"The film's initial interest in the riddles of the human psyche is overwhelmed by the effects of a striking trivial story in the course of the plot."

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Silent cry. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used