Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Eskil Vogt
Starring: Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Sam Ashraf, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim, Ellen Dorrit Petersen
Think of the worst atrocities you've witnessed and chances are they
were committed by your childhood peers. As kids we watch our friends
torture small animals, destroy property and physically assault other
kids, usually those marked as being "different" in some way. Kids
represent humanity at its most savage. They're essentially small
Neanderthals, yet to recognise morality. Yet we like to think of
children as innocent. They're not innocent, just ignorant.
Writer/director Eskil Vogt, a frequent collaborator of Joachim
Trier, takes a cynical view of childhood in his second film as director,
the ironically titled The Innocents. He opens his film with a typical act of childhood cruelty as
nine-year-old Ida (Rakel Lenora Flottum) pinches the arm of her
older, autistic and non-verbal sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad). Anna doesn't respond to such physical pain but Ida has been told
that her sister hurts on the inside. It doesn't stop her from continuing
the torment.
When her family moves to a tower block in the suburbs, Ida finds a
kindred spirit in a slightly older boy, Ben (Sam Ashraf). Ben is
bullied by the local kids and neglected by his mother, and he takes out
his rage by breaking branches in the nearby woods and torturing any cats
unfortunate enough to make his acquaintance. He seems like the sort of
kid who might later shoot up a school, but Ben has no need for guns – he
possesses telekinetic powers that allow him to manipulate both objects
and people.
Similarly gifted is the young Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim), who makes friends with Anna. Aisha discovers that Anna also has
psychic powers and can communicate mentally with herself and Ben. These
powers are harnessed initially through harmless childhood games, but as
Ben grows more frustrated he begins to use his gift to take revenge on
those he feels have wronged him.
We may not have seen this sort of story in this particular setting, but
movies about people with psychic powers have been done to death at this
point (in the US Vogt's film opened the same weekend as a terrible new
adaptation of Stephen King's
Firestarter). The Innocents is essentially
The Medusa Touch in a tower block, but it never really
makes much of its setting. The racial dynamic of the estate feels like
colourblind casting, with a Muslim woman at one point boiling
frankfurters for her son's dinner (???), and at no point is it ever
suggested that Ben's victimisation is linked to his race or religion.
Positing a young male Arab as a potential pot of rage set to boil over
into violence unless a young white girl intervenes…well, it's not a
great look (not to mention how unlikely it is for a Muslim to torture
cats, an animal granted exalted status by the religion).
We've seen both The Innocents' story and its stereotypes before, but it's undeniably well made.
Given its budget, the visual effects are so impressively realistic that
they might easily be overlooked. The performances of the young cast are
stellar, particularly Flottum, who manages to evoke sympathy despite the
awful things we see her engage in. Vogt's direction is subtle but
suspenseful, with a climactic scene at a playground positively brimming
with tension. But if you're after a more interesting story of a young
person grappling with psychic powers, I'd suggest Vogt and Trier's
Thelma.
