A Place Called Silence

Chen Yutong, a middle school student, is bullied systematically at school. Her mother Li Han knows and cannot stop it: the teachers look away, the administration protects its reputation, the other parents stay out of it. Heavier than the bullying is that everyone around it stays quiet, and in time that silence lays the ground for greater violence. Sam Quah uses the shape of a crime thriller, but the mechanism is what he is after. Who stayed silent, why, and who paid for it. The narrative advances through flashback, and as the order of events shifts, so does where responsibility sits. The tone is dark and the violence is shown directly. On release in China it reopened the argument about bullying in schools. Who it's for: Viewers who like crime thrillers and social criticism delivered from inside genre. Who it's not for: The scenes of violence and child abuse are heavy. The plot also packs too many turns into the final section and strains credibility.