An elegant film that slowly targets your emotions while immersing you deeper into the characters’ worlds, knowing on some level it will resonate with everyone through its tales of childhood difficulties; exclusion, loneliness, the desire for popularity and bullying.
Unusual in a film, A Silent Voice tells the story of regret from the perspective of the bully; why he acted the way he did; the hypocrisy of being bullied in turn for his actions; to seeking redemption – not just from others but from himself.
The film starts in showing Shôya Ishida; a teenager/young adult with his shoulders sunk and his head low as he makes his way to a bridge, his aim clear as he climbs onto its railing – he wants to end his life. But when he looks down at the river below, Ishida (voiced by Miyu Irino) sees a group of young children playing on its bank, and from here the audience is brought back to the younger years of his life – where he was popular, happy and has a crush on a pretty schoolgirl. But it all begins to unravel when newcomer Shoko Nishimiya (Saori Hayami) joins the school. Nishimiya is friendly, caring and deaf – and because of this she requires a little more help from her classmates and soon Ishida acts out against the attention and her.
Director Naoko Yamada masters the act of showing us why Ishida behaves the way he does, without having to verbalise the reasons; causing the emotions to hit harder and last longer. It’s also interesting to see how out Ishida’s insecurities are brought out through his actions, along with the misconception that he believes he’s doing the right thing. He’s still shown as being in the wrong, but you feel a degree of sympathy for Ishida, which is a difficult thing to balance.
Aside from focusing on the impact of the bully to the bullied, the film attempts to provide insight into the wider effect of a person’s actions; showing an almost mob mentality as a group of children justify their actions to one another; to seeing the impact on family as they feel powerless, sorrow, and shame at the situation.
Realising the pain he’s caused Nishimiya and others, in part through his own experiences, Ishida becomes wrapped in guilt and self-loathing which has brought him to commit suicide on the bridge. But he doesn’t go through with it, and instead seeks out Nishimiya in an attempt to undo the wrongs of the past. Often with the result of one step forward two back, but in these efforts Ishida begins another battle; fighting whether he has the right to feel happy.
A Silent Voice is an engaging tale of depression, regret, isolation and forgiveness – from others and from yourself, and with it leaving a childhood of pain behind. The film delicately handles mental health issues, its rendering told with great insight; from calendar dates being ripped out past the day he has chosen to commit suicide – not seeing a life beyond it, to then later being replaced with hand-written dates – his first effort in trying to move forward and to see a future. Then there’s the inner voice of depression where you imagine everyone around you dislikes you; they see the faults you believe you have, and in this Ishida even imagines his classmates asking ‘why is he alive?’ Capturing his doubts of self-worth and the detrimental hold depression can have. The film accentuates this effect most powerfully by having Ishida unable to see people’s faces and viewing them only with crosses. It carries a weight of him not just hiding from them, but that they’re too removed from him; he’s not part of society, being unable to see and contribute to it. In effect he’s blocked off from them. But in one simple act of kindness, as Ishida reaches out to help a classmate, the cross on their face falls off – he can see them and in turn be seen.
This is a lovely movie about friendship, its story showing the time it takes to open up and heal, and from this having multiple points of engagement that are both eye-opening and heart-warming.
Director: Naoko Yamada
Other notable works:
- Liz and the Blue Bird 2018
Writer: Reiko Yoshida
Other notable works:
- Blue Period 2021 –
- Violet Evergarden: The Movie 2020
- Ride Your Wave 2019
- Okko’s Inn 2018
- Liz and the Blue Bird 2018
- Blue Exorcist: The Movie 2012
- The Cat Returns 2002
Based on the manga series A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima
