Silent Roar

Silent Roar is a wonderful, confident feature film debut from Scottish filmmaker Jonny Barrington. Examining a facet of grief that often isn’t shown on screen, the film explores the story of Dondo, a young man who after losing his dad to the sea is still dealing with the repercussions. What transpires is a glorious deconstruction of how a person deals with grief, and that this might not be the same for everyone.

It was actually disconcerting at first finding Dondo after a year still adamant that is father is out there. However, as the film progresses what Barrington allows us to witness is the sheer sadness of Dondo, slowing peeling back layers of him, showcasing how unstable he is and how is simply looking for a place to put his feelings. It’s very strange cause grief is not normally shown like this, but I think it’s just as effective, showing complete denial and madness that comes with grief was just a really heartbreaking watch but not distant from how people deal with it in their own lives. Sadness does not need to explicitly be visible for it to be happening to someone.

Dondo is a surfer and throughout the film he experiences a spiritual feeling in the sea when he is searching for his dad. Thematically there’s a really interesting idea in having Dondo be at peace at sea, the place in which his father was taken from him. It reinforces this idea of people’s vices and beliefs being so intrinsically tied to a person, even if from the outside people might see it as pointless, if someone finds peace in it who are we to judge. So many people say to him how dangerous the sea is, yet it doesn’t seem to bother him.

Faith is a massive theme in this film and is more explicit in how it deals with religion. It’s another coping mechanism Dondo attempts to seek understanding in, he wants to know if this will give him answers. Powerfully this is contrasted with Sas’s feelings towards religion and losing faith. I find it interesting as the film seems to posit towards the idea of a difference in acting on faith and being faithful in a really beautiful scene.

None of this would be as good without the glorious performances of Louis McCartney and Ella Lily Hyland. Louis does such an impeccable job at having this plastered on smile that harbours a deep sadness underneath, it was such a brilliant performance. Ella did a great job at injected comedy into the film and still having as deep a performance. Also the film is just gloriously shot, it’s absolutely stunning.

Only real critique is that the film goes away from reality in parts and while I enjoyed it, I feel like it does take away from the end. I was a little confused at the emotional resolve and actually wasn’t sure if it was resolved. Barrington has a lot going on, and he juggles it all very well but I do think it didn’t land as well as it could have. However, as a Scot it’s so great to see more of Scotland on screen and seeing it in such an amazing film was so heartwarming