At the end of the film, Reuben took off his hat and his hearing aid, and for a moment, the whole world was silent again. Not far from the steeple of the church pierced into the sky, two little scholars skateboarding boys, drilling out the golden sunlight of the lush leaves, everything is still the same.
This is not a typical inspirational film, not even an inspirational film.
The actor Ruben, a drummer of a heavy metal rock band, accidentally discovered that his sense of hearing has begun to separate from the world. Only one or two percent of the hearing diagnosis results are left, which is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue, hitting the fairly stable life of this ordinary rock boy. After struggling, Ruben's plan to tour around in a RV with his girlfriend was suspended, and he himself went to a deaf community introduced by an agent, where he learned about the life of the deaf.
The Voice of Metal is undoubtedly a very confusing title. Except for the heavy metal rock live performance at the beginning, the whole film has very little connection with rock music. But looking back, some characteristics of the male lead are somewhat similar to metal or metal music.
Toughness is the most direct and strongest feeling given to me by the male protagonist. Like the drum set at the beginning, it is sonorous and powerful. Hearing the news of his hearing loss, he tried his best to restrain his emotions and asked the doctor if there was any treatment. After learning of the diagnosis, he turned around again to relieve his sad and anxious girlfriend, and planned to continue his tour of the show to make money for treatment. He is not willing to give up everything he has now because of the hurdle of deafness, but in front of others, especially in front of his girlfriend, he must act fearlessly like this.
But besides being tough, he could not help but gradually lose his mind and become rampant under the influence of the bad news. The telephone monologue in the restaurant is impressive. Facing the agent on the other end of the phone, Reuben gave a casual and slightly exaggerated explanation. He could not hear, as if he was isolated from the world. That call, he was consciously venting, to express the dissatisfaction and frustration of a "deaf person" to the world. Although he couldn't play heavy metal music on stage, Ruben could still make his own voice. Ironically, just like on stage, he couldn't hear the response of his audience, but was only enveloped by the noise .
Reuben needs to change.
But it is never easy to change.
Compared to using a neat technique to pull out a complete story, the film is more inclined to use the atmosphere to infect the audience and let the audience fall into the emotions of the characters. The sound effects have taken on the main task.
From the beginning of the film, the film alternates between what a normal person hears and what a hearing-impaired Reuben hears. The latter's noisy sound was like the roar of a plane taking off, which made my eardrums uncomfortable. For a while, I was forced to take off the headphones and slowly. But it is this strong "noise" that makes the audience enter Ruben's world to experience his helplessness.
Reuben was forced to come to the deaf-mute community. On the surface, the community wanted to help Reuben regain his strength and face life positively, but in reality, it just wanted to instill in him the idea of community and assimilate it. In the process of gradual adaptation, Ruben will also be infected by the optimism of the community. But in my opinion, his heart is still lonely. The so-called treating oneself as a normal person is just an excuse for self-deception, which makes Ruben paralyze himself in a small group.
This is a passive acceptance process, which is short-lived and effective but has a weak foundation. Ruben, who was locked up in the community, still missed the promise he and his girlfriend had made, selling a car to save money and rushing out of the community to buy hearing aids. The alternation of the two voices in the film is more like an opposition between forced acceptance and active acceptance. The sound in the real world is clear and clear, but it can't be avoided. It will envelop you unknowingly and force you to accept it. Ruben settled down to buy a hearing device for himself, but there was still a mess of noise in his ears.
Why is Ruben depressed for most of the film? The doctor's guidance, the girlfriend's persuasion, the community worker's request, no matter who it is, they have always regarded Ruben as a shabby machine. The doctor wanted to lubricate it to re-operate, his girlfriend wanted to find a good garbage dump for it, and the community workers wanted to reimburse it directly for reshaping, and Ruben himself was gradually lost under the "voice" of others. For himself, he kept in mind the hearing aids mentioned by doctors and listened to the teachings of community workers, but he also gradually lost the ability to actively "communication" with the world.
Reuben, who had undergone an operation, came to his girlfriend's home. It coincided with his girlfriend's father's birthday party. A father-daughter chorus was heartbreaking. Riz Ahmed, who played Ruben, contributed a perfect performance. The crying scene is full of layers. He gradually began to think and began to connect with the world. Is communication with this world only through voice?
At the end of the film, Ruben took off the hearing aid. He chose to take the initiative to talk to the world and compare pictures with a silent posture. Rather than saying that Ruben finally reached a reconciliation with his heart, it was rather that he made another choice after suffering painful struggles.
"Sound" is not only an auditory impression measured in decibels, but also a bridge between our heart and the outside world. The bridge can collapse, but we must keep our faith and hope to cross the river.
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