The Innocents (2021) is a Norwegian horror film about children Direct by Eskil Vogt. It’s drama, thriller and horror in one place. The worst thing is that the heroes here are children. Nine-year-old Ida moves into a new apartment with her family. She has to meet the children in the neighborhood who are outcasts. The meaning of their isolation from society is that they have such gifts as telekinesis, telepathy. The girl understands that the further she begins to be friends with them, the easier the boundaries are erased, it becomes unclear where the supernatural is and where the real is. The lives of the people around are at risk. In essence, the meaning of the film is that we are offered to see the invisible war that takes place in children with their inner experiences, how their expectations differ from external reality.
The Innocents shows us that childhood is often overly romanticized, in fact, children go through difficult moments, and often it depends on the parents. Ida has a sister, she suffers from autism, and acquired. As the film progresses, the parents notice that she used to even talk, but now she only communicates with the help of noise. Ida finds a friend Ben, he is older than her, but he also suffers from the fact that he is not allowed to join the football team, he is ignored at home, while Ben, who makes friends with the girl, shows her various tricks that can be done with the power of thought. These processes do not work out, the girl does not have a gift, she does not have any superpowers. It is the distinction between talented and ordinary children that can be seen throughout the film.
Ida becomes very cruel, because if she fails to lift a stone into the air, then she can relieve stress by throwing the cat on the stairs, pouring glass into her sister’s shoes, because she cannot complain. The director shows that people can destroy people with the help of the mind, cripple them emotionally. The film shows the silent pain of children, the ability of children to seek communication in many ways, even if they cannot talk. Two autistic girls are friends and they discover their telepathic abilities, they can communicate while in different buildings.
Despite the fact that the film was presented as a horror film, as a result, it reaches the level of the darkest thriller in its intensity. There is everything here – childish cruelty, animal abuse, psychopathy, agony. Many moments are very difficult to perceive, while the film does not use special effects at every turn, here some things are shown only from the outside, and still it allows the viewer to watch with tension what is happening on the screen.
The plot was used in principle in different examples, there are many films about violent children, but the overall impression is made up of acting. All the performers perfectly fit into their roles, they harmoniously pull out the most emotionally complex scenes. There are also many open questions in the film, for example, the director did not explain how telepathy appears in children, but at the same time it runs through the entire film. This is not a Hollywood film, this is a real European cinema, where the most uncomfortable topics are easily raised, sore points are touched. After watching this film, adults can look at children in a completely different way and possibly help them survive this or that period. As you know, the film ended with the fact that the end was not put here.
