The Man Who Couldn’t Stay Silent (2024) Film Review from Eye for Film

The idea that evil thrives in silence is not new, but it is poignantly brought home in Nebojsa Slijepcevic’s latest short film. Its tense drama unfolds in a place that could hardly have more witnesses: the busy carriages of a train. It’s 1993 – a time indicated by the portable headphones worn by a passenger – and the train is passing through Bosnia-Herzegovina when it stops unexpectedly. None of this is stated up front, an appropriate decision for a situation that you think could happen at any time and anywhere, especially given the current state of the world. Soon the train is boarded by paramilitary forces who appear determined to carry out ethnic cleansing and demand to show the passengers’ identification documents.

Slijepcevic is a documentarian by trade and he maintains a strong sense of realism – there is attention to detail in these headphones and a credible sweep of the narrative. He also keeps us guessing, focusing first on passenger Dagan (Goran Bogdan) who seems decidedly worried about the incursion before his film bends and twists in unexpected ways. To say much more about the plot – even though it is unfortunately based on a real incident that some may be familiar with – would be to spoil the tension that Slijepcevic carefully builds in a single car where Dagan is traveling with a group of strangers including one a young man (Silvio Mumelaš) and another much older one (Dragan Mićanović).

The writer/director asks us to think about what we would do in his situation, if someone we don’t know suddenly fell under what we instinctively know to be an existential threat. Beyond showing an act of heroism, Slijepcevic also demonstrates how easy it is to be instinctively complicit even when you think you wouldn’t. All of this is brought home closely by Gregor Bozic’s camerawork, which also gives us the impression of being in the carriage.

The Man Who Couldn’t Stay Silent deservedly won the Palme d’Or for short film at Cannes. It is perfectly self-contained but could just as easily be part of a longer story. If Slijepcevic has one in mind, let’s hope he gets the funding, because he clearly has an aptitude for turning fact into compelling fiction with a point to make.

Review written on: May 28, 2024