There is a subgenre of films about childhood and growing up that have a long history of not sugarcoating the adolescent experience. Films likeStand By Me,Bridge to Terabithia, andMirrormaskalong with many others all encompass the darker side of growing up. Lost friendships, grief, and trauma all play central roles in these films as well as spotlighting the more mundane aspects of adolescence.
One such film is 2021’s Norwegian horrorThe Innocents. A picture of perfect youth is soon shattered and friends quickly turn against each other in this atmospheric and brutal film. What happens when a child’s rage is given free rein in anenvironment of trauma and abuseand magnified by unnatural forces?
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Written and directed by Eskil Vogt,The Innocentstells the story of Ida (Rakel Lenora Fløttum) and her older sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad) whose family has just arrived at a new apartment complex. Almost as soon as the film begins it is clear that this isn’t going to be a happy tale. Anna lives with a severe form of Autism and the first interaction the 2 sisters have on screen is Ida pinching the non-verbal Anna’s thigh as hard as she can.
Ida’s resentment of Anna and the attention and special care she receives from their parents is never shied away from. Ida is a rebellious, sometimes cruel child who in theopening minutes of the filmimmediately spits out of her new bedroom window and stomps on a worm multiple times just because she can. Moving is a hard enough prospect when you are young. Uprooting and leaving behind everything you know, all your friends, and your school is like ripping away a security blanket. All Ida wants is for her parents to spend time with her, but there’s just so much to do.
Not long after moving in, Ida makes friends with a boy, Ben (Sam Ashraf) who seems similar to her. Lonely, isolated, and with unchecked anger issues. Ben is in one key way different from Ida, he has very basic telepathic abilities. When they meet, he can divert bottle caps off course when they are dropped, but as the story unfolds hisabilities grow more and more powerful. Ida continues to demonstrate her own cruelty, frustration, and jealousy of her older sister at one point by filling one of her shoes with broken glass. Again, Anna is non-verbal and Ida knows that she will be unable to communicate her pain.
While Anna suffers in silence, the audience is introduced to a new character, a little girl from the same building called Aisha. Aisha suffers from Vitiligo, a disease that causes patches of her skin to lose pigmentation. Aisha is a gentle girl, sensitive to those around her and to the racism that follows so many others. She is shown brushing the blonde hair of a white doll, comparing their hair colors, and telling the doll not to say that anyone’s hair is more beautiful than anyone else’s. Afterfinding her mother cryingin the kitchen, Aisha decides to leave but when putting on her shoes exclaims in pain and withdraws her foot, only to find a sock drenched in blood. The same foot that Anna is currently unable to do anything about.
The Innocentsonly escalates from here. Ben’s power increases and his spiral into psychopathy begins with a particularly harrowing scene involving a cat. After this, Ida attempts to distance herself from Ben while Aisha becomes joins the group. It’s revealed that Aisha also has abilities, she is able tocommunicate with Anna through telepathyand the pair are inextricably linked with each being able to feel what the other feels. Anna shares this ability, but it has lain dormant until the family moved. In proximity to Aisha, Anna begins to communicate suddenly able to speak.
Parallel to this, the burden of power that Ben now has coupled with his abusive home life and trauma finally breaks the dam of rage inside him. It boils over, literally, when he attacks his mother with his abilities, immobilizing her and dumping boiling water on her. It is a visceral moment that is shared between him, Aisha, and Anna. The two girls are able to feel the build-up and release of power from him. Ben leaves his mother there, on the floor of their apartment bloodied and severely burned.He feels regret, clearly. He cries over her and tries to tend her wounds. Once conscious she begs him for help, but he still leaves her there.
Ben is soon able to influence other people and begins using them as puppets to carry out revenge on those that have wronged him. While Ben at first feels remorse, that soon wears off. His abilities frighten the other children and his alienation only makes things worse. Ben is a truly frightening presence. He doesn’t hesitate to cause harm to others once he realizes he can. Where Aisha uses her abilities to help and heal, his are only used to hurt. Despite this,Ben is still a sympathetic character. He doesn’t understand why people don’t like him, why what he can do is wrong.
The film crescendos into a war of sorts between the super-powered children, with Anna revealing that she is also as powerful as Ben. Aisha and Anna resolve to stop Ben, they know that he is planning to hurt them and others. The air of dread in the film is palpable, with a sense that at any moment something awful is going to happen. It’s an oppressive, suffocating third act that feels like a building panic in the viewers' chests.
The Innocentsisn’t a happy tale, there’s no fairy tale summer ending on the cards for these children. It can only end bloody and destroyed. It’s not an easy watch, but it is a compelling and masterful film that plays with thehorrors of adolescenceand trauma in a way that worms under the skin and stays for some time after watching.
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