Category: A Quiet Place

Evelyn (Emily Blunt Krasinski) cautions her deaf daughter, Regan ((Millicent Simmonds), to be quiet.

A QUIET PLACE

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

Shush…. or you might get killed.

“A Quiet Place” is about not having a voice in a life or death setting, where your abilities are not recognized, because of your gender, a physical disability, or any other competitive disadvantage.

Why have so many people been connecting with this film?

My take away is that rather than living in a constant terrified state, where a lot of the world lives right now, this film teaches us to figure out your opponent’s weaknesses, then to take defensive action in light of that knowledge.

It could be applied to confronting a shooter in a Waffle House, or to confronting a sexist, racist boss. The theme is universal.

The older daughter, Regan ((Millicent Simmonds), is physically and emotionally ready to take on responsibilities that her father, Lee (John Krasinski), is asking a much younger son, Marcus (Noah Jupe) to do.

This film questions the importance of maintaining the long established gender roles. In a life or death situation, everyone’s abilities need to be coordinated for survival.

“A Quiet Place” also takes a look at the family unit. The film shows us a husband (John Krasinski) and a wife (Emily Blunt) with an older daughter, (Millicent Simmonds) who is deaf, a younger son (Noah Jupe) and an unborn baby.

Apparently, there are neighbors, but no effort is made to organize them.

(Krasinski and Blunt are real life husband and wife and Simmonds is deaf in real life. And, the Krasinski’s, write, direct and perform their own script.)

In this film, your family is your team, and their individual talents and abilities need to be developed to the fullest. This is no time to shelter anyone from the truth, or to deliberately keep anyone weak or in the dark about anything.

If his wife can give birth in a pool of blood, without making a sound, then the husband should be able to figure out a way to save his children without screaming.

Self-sacrifice is out of the question. The father is a vital member of the team, and the family’s chances of survival go way down without him.

I was a little puzzled about why doors were left wide open, and wondered why they could not just create a series of noise diversions in another location, if their enemy could not see, but responded to sound?

At least the female characters were not victims.

Emily Blunt was fabulous in “A Girl on a Train,” and she is just as great in “A Quiet Place,” where she is essentially the same character. Once she figures things out, she becomes a force to be reckoned with.

This film gave me a lot to think about, which I loved. It is not for the faint of heart, but is highly recommended for competitive advantage.