It'll make your soul hurt good!

Rating: 9/10 (24 April 2006)

If you wanted a reason to make your soul hurt, in a good way, go see Silent Hill. Silent Hill was one of the best films I've seen in the last several years. It was also, by far, the best "video-game to movie" film thus far made. Lastly, this is the best "horror" film ever made, and the template by which other horror movies should follow. Japanese inspiration plus French direction plus American budget equals sweet, sweet, psychosis. This movie is not for the faint of heart, or the psychologically impaired.
Silent Hill is not a "horror" movie. It is not a "scary movie" either. Silent Hill has long been my favorite video game (with its sequels ranging from fairly awesome to slightly cool) and both that first game and this movie better fit into a genre name I thought up years ago that I always wished would have a movie made in it. Silent Hill is a terror film. Its objective is not to make you "jump." Its aim is to disturb you and make you hurt in all the places that you don't want to hurt. The kinds of places you can't put band-aids on.
The monsters of Silent Hill aren't "monsters," they're all the worst stuff that's ever happened to you. The monsters of Silent Hill are the kids in your school that called you bad names, the surgeons that cut you when you didn't know why, the betrayals of your parents, and, apparently, the janitors that molested you. They're very well constructed psychological archetypes for real world events that deeply scar and shatter human lives.
Now, for the bad parts.
First, for some odd reason, even though the acting was superb and the lines were often really, really good, they were not worked in well.
Second, and this is by FAR the biggest failing in the film. It has a single, major, non-objective correlative that ends up figuring in rather importantly into the end of the film. Since I don't want to give out too many spoilers, I'll leave it at this; at one point, someone that hasn't been built up as the "surrendering type," seems to go out of her way to surrender. This totally seemed out of character.
Third, there is a WHOLE scene that doesn't need to have been in the film. It's a very long scene used to explain the plot of the movie, and it's awkward and doesn't fit. Now, let's talk about what was just simply amazing about this film.
First, this film had a message, a point, AND used metaphors! And this wasn't even and independent film. Wow, that's like getting to have sex with someone you think is hot, AND is a good person that likes you.
Second, the film does a great job of making us sympathize with the "good guys" in the movie. We care about Sharon, we care about Rose, and we care about Cybil. And by care, I mean, "hurt with." It is positively torturous to endure this film because of how poorly it treats these characters. This, of course, is the deranged beauty of Silent Hill.
Third, what it does to that sympathy. All I'm going to say is, by the end of the movie, I had been cinematically raped.
Fourth, the film is explicit, without being gory. It never once uses the viewers' reaction to violence to substitute meaning. It uses violence to punctuate it. And thus, a world is conjured for us where there is meaning, purpose, and most importantly, consequence. Gore has no consequence, thus, this is not gore.
Fifth, all the technical crud. I'll use this to simply say that the acting, music, and sets were amazing.
Sixth, the subtlety of the film (with the exception of the "explanation scene") is amazing. Very little outside of the basic plot is ever fully exposed through the direct narrative. Instead, even after hours of thinking about it, I'm still finding metaphors that I didn't first realize were there.
Here comes a bit of a spoiler, so skip this paragraph if you want. The seventh awesome thing is the inclusion of Sean Bean's character, Christopher, because he's the representation of US who played the game!
The important factor involved in whether or not you will like this movie is how much you can sympathize with someone. What would you do if your child was in danger? Are we talking, "danger from getting hit by a car?" What if her soul or mind was in danger from horrible trauma, or friggin' demons! Would you go just as far to help? What if she was your adopted daughter? Even if you would go "all the way" to help her, are you ready to face the idea that your best efforts might NEVER be able to heal her or save her? Would you still stay as emotionally convicted to that child? Some important questions to ask yourself as you plan your trip to Silent Hill.
This movie was phenomenal. I hope that its brilliance isn't dulled by the opaque fog of the average American movie go-er's mental horizon.
I have not stopped thinking about this movie, even though I saw it three days ago. I am very unhappy about where it left me, and couldn't be happier about that! Go see this film now so you can test the limits of what you'd do for someone you love.
Ultimately, Silent Hill remains the last chance a person has at salvation. If you have to go there, you already know you're on your way to the "not so happy place." It is the very last chance given to those whom God cannot save, so he allows them the Devil's opportunity to earn their forgiveness. Either way, it will always make your soul hurt good.