The Secret Life of Words (2005)

I wish I could have liked this more

The Secret Life of Words is a well intended film, but like good intentions, it gets derailed by its own earnestness. The film opens with a child's voice: are these words from the main character Hanna, representing the remnant of a childhood past, a fleeting ghost of safety? Or is it the inner voice, the inner words, that only Hanna can hear, since a violent and brutal war in the Balkans left her deaf? Or is this child's voice a vain attempt to make the movie deeper than it really is? I vote for the later.

The acting in the film is adequate; the location, an isolated oil rig, tenuously and temporarily alive in the middle of a threatening sea, is apt. What seems to be amiss is the dialogue in the script. We just dont get the secret life of the words in this film.

I would give this movie an extra half star for wanting to please.


July 30, 2008

Compelling Claustrophobic Drama

"Sarah Polley gives a wonderfully searching performance, as a woman in a state of extreme isolation, in "The Secret Life of Words," a compellingly claustrophobic drama set mostly aboard an oil rig. This film tackles its big theme -- silence as a defense against tragedy -- with delicacy, sympathy and originality, sans sentimentality." Jonathan Holland

This film grabbed me and cut to my core. Immediately this young woman played by Sarah Polley spoke to me. This is an actress who can display with a flick of her hair and a non expression that something has gone terribly wrong and will never be right again. Hanna as she is known, is deaf, she lives alone, she works in a factory and has not had a sick day or a day off in 4 years. We know she eats white rice, chicken nuggets and half an apple for every meal. She has a collection of almond scented soap in her bathroom, and she uses a new bar everytime she washes her hands. This is all we know. She is summoned to her supervisor's office and told she must take a 4 week vacation. Her non-speech and work ethic gives her fellow workers a case of nerves, she must at least act human.

Hanna goes to the coast of Northern Ireland and while eating dinner one evening she overhears a conversation that changes her life. An oil rig has had a fire, and there is a great need for a nurse to care for a burned man. She volunteers for the duty and is flown by helicopter to the oil rig.

Hanna meets her patient, Josef, played by Tim Robbins. He has corneal burns and cannot see, leg fractures and burns on his body and face, but he remains intelligent and self-deprecating. He obtained his burns by trying to save someone else. The fact is that what Hanna and Josef don't say is sometime's more significant than what they do say. Hanna maintains her stalwart composure and does not give anything away. Little by little their relationship develops and Hanna begins to open her heart and secrets, as does Josef. On one day, Hanna discloses her shattering past. Josef gathers her in his arms, and this scene is more exqisite than words can express.

The rest of the small crew on the rig are loners as is Hanna. They all have their stories and the chef is the most telling. Hanna discovers that food should be tasted and enjoyed. A scene with Hanna, sitting on the stairs, devouring the rest of Josef's meal will live on. There is a sharing of respect, and Hanna has a family of sorts.

The trauma of both of these characters is lessened by their meeting. Hanna helps Josef heal and Josef helps Hanna with her emotional recovery. Josef has bones that mend and Hanna has a life opened to the world. The time comes when Josef needs more expert care, and they are both helicoptered off the rig to the city. "Hanna, Hanna,' we hear Josef yell as he is lifted into the ambulance. "Hanna,Hanna".

The soundtrack to the film is exquisite. From Clem Snide to David Byrne to Tom Waits and to Paolo Conte. Each song has its place and link the narrative as needed. It is a sound track to be played over and over again.


"Instead of being a visionary film that shows us how people behave when they have been tremendously damaged, this becomes an explanatory film that tells us that its characters have been damaged, and need love to heal them. This may or may not be true, but it's definitely a truism, and it dissolves at least some of the picture's potency and mystery into cliché." Emily Taylor

We often hear without words, and we understand through facial changes what someone is thinking. This film is the ultimate in communication without words, and when words are spoken, each of them evokes a distinct memory.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 05-24-08

The Sweet Hereafter (New Line Platinum Series)

The Shawshank Redemption (Two-Disc Special Edition)
May 25, 2008

Great movie

I loved this film. It's a very good combination of a personal drama with politics & history. Tim Robbins' performance is great. Sarah Polley is so good as she was in "My lIfe without me". I'm looking forward to seeing new films from Isabel Coixet. March 25, 2008

95% Depression; 5% Redemption ....

"The Secret Life of Words" may tax the patience and endurance of many viewers. Two forlorn individuals - Sarah Polley (Hanna) and Tim Robbins (Josef) have more baggage than an O'Hare skycap. Both are scarred, emotionally and physically.

Hanna nurses Josef after the latter is badly hurt and burned in an oil rig accident. She is a battered survivor of atrocities during strife in the Balkans. She works in a factory in Copenhagen but is aloof and distant from her co-workers. As their relationship grows and deepens, they peel back the layers and barriers they have built around their emotional lives. (Polley bears an uncanny resemblance to Uma Thurman.)

The characters - a skeleton crew - aboard the oil rig are a quirky bunch.
Perhaps 95% of this movie is a depressing downer. The closing suggests the possibility of love's healing and redemptive powers.

SSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOWWWW paced.....

March 23, 2008

This film was hard to figure out, until the end.

This was an excellent film. Gripping. Engaging. A mystery until the end. I could not predict the ending. A great film for grown-ups. Pay attention or you will miss out! December 5, 2007

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