Silent Cry

I recorded this film on sky+ when it was shown recently on TV. Unfortunately I was unaware that there was a short news bulletin in the middle and I missed the second half. As I am unable to buy it on video or DVD can someone PLEASE tell me what happened and what it was all about. I would be very grateful for this. I saw about the first 55 minutes up to the bit where they were picked up and taken to the friend's flat. It has been very frustrating not to know after watching so much of an enjoyable, at least as much as I managed to see, film. I do hope that someone out there can help and I would be very grateful, alternatively perhaps someone knows if it will ever be released to buy. C.Scott

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Rachel (Emily Woof) is a single-mother who awakens in a hospital to be told by Dr Herd (Kevin Whately) the devastating news that her baby has died.However,she experiences flashbacks which tell her all doesn't quite add up,and,with the help of hospital care-taker Daniel (Douglas Henshall) she sets out to uncover the truth.

An interesting,twisting-and-turning story plays at odds with a dry,flat script that creates emotional dis-attachment with the characters.On the performances front,Woof and Henshall just amble along in the lead roles,whilst I just don't really click with Whately as an actor,finding him somewhat off-putting and flat (and what happened to his character at the end,by the way?!??).The star of the show here is easily Clive Russell who carves a genuinely menacing presence as the looming Det Betts.Certainly worth watching if you want to see an intriguing story unfold,but there's very little to keep you lingering around once you've worked it all out.Except maybe a nice Cranberries/Corrs? song at the end.***

No pun intended - we have a mother here - I mean what happens to her, you do not wish upon anyone. Not your worst enemy (at least I hope you don't). And it surely is not something that - well you can connect, you can empathize, because you can imagine what this would be like for you or for anyone. And we know that stuff like this happens - maybe not exactly the way we see it in the movie (and without some of the cliches - on the other hand, reality has shown us, that it can be wilder than any fiction).

There is enough tension and if you can forgive the flaws the movie has - acting and story wise that is ... well you may feel that it is better than what I rated it ...

A day after she held her newborn in her arms, still in the hospital, the doctor informs Rachel that the baby has died. Broken and incredulous, Rachel returns to the hospital, finds a comrade among the hospital staff, and together they go out into the darker corners of London on a journey in which they discover not a few disturbing secrets. Alongside the twisting plot and the talented ensemble of actors, the camera plays a lead role in the way in which it colors the hospital corridors, the rainy streets of London and the gutters populated by prostitutes and homeless people. The result is a finely wrought thriller, directed with impressive emotional restraint.

"Silent Cry" is a twenty-first century thriller with roots in the British tradition of "kitchen sink" social realism. The main character is Rachel Stewart, a single mother who is told that her baby has died only a few hours after she gave birth to him. Her suspicions are aroused, however, by the behaviour of the doctors involved and their reluctance to let her see the body. Suspecting that her baby may have been kidnapped, she attempts to uncover the truth with the help of Daniel Stone, a sympathetic hospital porter. Their investigations lead them into danger when they discover that a ruthless gang have been abducting babies for adoption by childless couples. They are, however, unable to inform the police as the leader of the gang is himself a police officer.

In their heyday in the fifties and sixties, British kitchen sink films mostly dealt with working-class life. "Silent Cry" deals not so much with the traditional working class as with the modern underclass of drug addicts, prostitutes and petty criminals. Apart from the villains, who are largely middle-class Establishment figures such as doctors and policemen, about the only character who has a job is Daniel, and even he is a reformed ex-convict recently released from jail. I was reminded of "Dirty Pretty Things", another British social-realist thriller from 2002 which also had a hospital setting and which dealt with London's underclass and with a sinister conspiracy among members of the medical profession. (One difference, however, is that "Dirty Pretty Things" dealt mostly with members of various immigrant communities, whereas in "Silent Cry" nearly all the characters are white British).

Besides its links with the British social realist tradition, the film also has some similarities with American neo-noir crime dramas such as "L.A. Confidential". Films of this type attempt to capture something of the spirit of the films noirs of the forties and fifties, and often have complex plots involving widespread corruption and wrongdoing, particularly by those in positions of authority. There was, however, always more to film noir than a crime-related theme and a complicated storyline; atmosphere was equally important, and neo-noir directors are often able to give their films an atmospheric look equivalent to the moody black-and-white photography of classic noir. Director Julian Richards achieves that here with a bleak, faded look appropriate to the film's grim subject matter and to the stark, bare hospital corridors, shabby, dilapidated flats and urban wastelands against which it is shot.

The acting is good, especially from Emily Woof as the vulnerable but determined heroine and from Clive Russell as the menacing villain Dennis Betts. I would not rate the film quite as highly as "Dirty Pretty Things", which I felt had a greater insight into social issues, but "Silent Cry" is a gripping, well-made thriller which holds the attention and does not (unlike many recent American thrillers) waste time on unconvincing or unnecessary plot twists. 7/10