Telling a story involves a more complex process than simply stating a series of facts that shape the plot. Through precise and evocative descriptions, authors try to capture certain tones, atmospheres and sensations. The nature of these tools changes depending on each medium, with notable differences between literature and film, for example. In films, words can be replaced by other more effective mechanisms, as director Darius Marder did with his first feature film, Sound of Metal, where he narrates the experience of a person who loses his sense of hearing.
For the protagonist, Ruben (Riz Ahmed), hearing is something fundamental, since he is the drummer of a metal band called Blackgammon. The other member is Lou (Olivia Cooke), not only the guitarist of the duo but also his girlfriend, with whom he has been in a relationship for four years. It is the same time that Ruben has been away from drugs, after a complicated heroin addiction, which reflects the importance of the connection he has with Lou and the music. So when he suddenly loses his hearing in the middle of a tour with the band, the world seems to fall apart for him. Fearing a relapse with drugs, a quite feasible possibility considering the impact this situation means for the protagonist, his girlfriend takes him to a community that specializes in helping deaf people suffering from addiction, a place run by Joe (Paul Raci), a Vietnam War veteran.
One of Marder's objectives is to transmit to the viewers what Ruben is going through in order to make us participants in his experience. Through a sound design that muffles and distorts that dimension of reality, the director creates some scenes in which we are forced to share the protagonist's sensations, to put ourselves in his shoes. The film intersperses these moments with others where the sounds are heard in a normal way, which is also accompanied by a change in the types of shots used -with smaller frames when we hear what the character hears-, to enhance the subjectivity of these moments.
With a hearing ability of about 20%, Ruben is suddenly cut off from the rest of the world. The effect is even more tragic for him since his life revolves around music, something that at the same time allowed him to create a connection with Lou. The protagonist's reaction is laden with fear, anger and despair, but while his band's musical style and manner of dress might suggest a certain type of story, Sound of Metal unfolds with surprising introspection and calm. The bond he has with the drums is used by the film as a way of presenting his interests and the world he inhabits, an issue that is abandoned when he suffers hearing loss. Instead of a work like Damien Chazelle's Whiplash (2014), which emphasized the obsession, perseverance and even masochism associated with art, here the film takes us to a more discreet and, it is worth the redundancy, silent scenario.
Once he goes to the doctor and receives his diagnosis, the protagonist learns of the possibility of cochlear implants, an expensive but apparently effective treatment to recover his hearing. That operation becomes his main objective for the rest of the film, the goal he wants to achieve in order to solve all his problems, including his deteriorating musical career and relationship. However, when he arrives at the community that Joe directs, he explains to him that deafness does not have to be understood as a disease that must be cured, but rather as a condition that they can learn to live with. In the face of Ruben's restlessness and his incessant search for a miraculous potion, a different vision arises, one that invites him to embrace calm and find peace with himself.
Marder patiently builds the environment in which the protagonist arrives, showing the activities they carry out and their work with a school for deaf children. This context forces Ruben to stop and look at his situation a little more calmly, but in his mind the idea of having surgery and returning to "normal" persists. His insistence is seen by Joe as a sign of his addiction, as the desire to find a quick solution that dominates this type of person. That problem is not something that is definitively solved, for despite several years of sobriety an addict is still an addict; the bond cannot be erased. This is something we can even see in American Sign Language, where one of the gestures to represent that word is to imitate a fishhook catching the individual's mouth.
Before Sound of Metal, the Ukrainian film Plemya (The Tribe, 2014), by Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, had explored the world of deafness from a riskier perspective, with all the dialogues expressed in sign language and without subtitles for the viewers. Marder approaches his story from a less drastic strategy, but not for that reason lacking in value, accommodating the style used to what he wants to convey. His approach is more sensory, an experience that transports the audience to a state of visceral immersion, in which we get to listen as Ruben himself. The bet works, thanks to a good balance between the different registers, without the excessive use of distorted sounds.
But not everything depends on the technical elements of the film, because Riz Ahmed's performance also contributes to achieve the effect that the work aims at. In addition to filling the gaps that arise when the film does not distort the sound, to achieve the necessary quota of veracity of his situation, the interpreter is responsible for showing how all this affects Ruben personally. His mannerisms give us a sense of what the character is like, who behaves as if he were wearing a shell to keep himself separate from the rest of the world, a barrier that gradually erodes as the film progresses. However, his journey is not so easy to delimit, due to the conflicts that continue to develop within him.
The protagonist's catharsis, if there is one, emerges after a bumpy ride. Critical moments, including disappointments and uncertainty, lead Ruben to identify the essential, not so much as a definitive answer to his problems, but as a first step for what comes next.
You present a fairly comprehensive review of this film that has attracted so much attention in recent months. You manage to highlight relevant aspects in its story and filmmaking that contribute to the viewer's interest. Thanks, @waraira777.
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