Movie Review: ‘Silencio’

Review by James Lindorf

In July of 1970 the US government launched a missile carrying vials of radioactive cobalt only to watch it veer off course and crash in Mexico’s famed Zone of Silence. James (John Noble; Fringe) the scientist in charge of the cleanup, and his assistant Peter (Rupert Graves; V for Vendetta) make a life-altering discovery when the cobalt mixes with a meteorite creating a stone with tremendous otherworldly powers. Now in present day, Silencio focus on Ana, (Melina Matthews; Mama) whose son Felix was kidnaped and ransomed for her grandfather James’ stone. In her frantic search for the hidden relic Ana stumbles upon long-lost family secrets and discovers enemies willing to kill to acquire the stone. She will need all of her strength to face dangers both old and new if she wants to see her son again. Written, directed and produced by Lorena Villarreal, filmed in Zone of Silence and other northern Mexico locations, Silencio will be available in select theaters October 26th.

After a 14-year break from directing Lorena Villarreal is back to share another story inspired by a Mexican urban legend. Her first film looked at the famed Weeping Woman, and this time she has turned her sites on the Zone of Science. Located on the same parallel line of the Bermuda Triangle and the Pyramids of Giza, this area has had several unexplainable events take place within its borders as well as mutations in plants and animals, and multiple meteorite impacts. While the Zone is essential to creating the stone, the film’s McGuffin, after the first 10 minutes it plays essentially no part in the movie. The stone isn’t hidden there, the final showdown doesn’t happen there, Villarreal may have just chosen the Zone for name recognition not because it was essential to the story.

John Noble was respectable in his role as James, but it is very reminiscent of his character on 100 episodes the TV show Fringe. He stepped right into the comfortable shoes of a scientist exploring the mysterious while suffering from an unnamed mental disability, presumably Alzheimer’s. Rupert Graves as Peter had less than 10 minutes of screen time but was able to turn his minimal presence into an impressive performance. Graves was able balance Peter’s public image as a hotshot scientist with his secret obsession with finding the stone. Melina Matthews is the real star of the film, she has the most screen time, and she carries the emotional weight of the film. Ana may be a successful psychiatrist with a high-rise office, but she is still suffering from survivor’s remorse while taking care of her ailing grandfather and being a single mother. Her plate was already full when an armed man entered her home and took her child. Matthews is able to emote determination, despair, elation, and anger while Ana has 24 hours to find and turn over the stone.

Villarreal’s story doesn’t hide the fact that the stone is real or what it is capable of, it is all shown in the opening minutes. The stone can give whoever is holding it the ability to travel back in time and see the person or event they were thinking about at that moment. We see James make the initial trip and how it allows him to save Ana from an accident that would still claim the rest of her family. The moral center of the film comes when it is revealed that if you use the stone to save someone, then someone close to you will die. Combining elements from The Box and Final Destination, you are offered the chance to change the world, but life will find a balance itself, possibly in an innocent victim.

It is the great ethical quandary of the film and of life. Would you save a parent, child, or spouse if it meant that you or someone else had to die? The question along with the performances are the films strongest elements. Its weakest moments come from the decision to bounce back and forth between English and Spanish for no discernible reason, as well as some murky editing in the final moments. While entertaining, the question Silencio raises may stick with you much longer than the details of the film, but it should leave you interested in what Villarreal will give us next.