"A Quiet Place Part II": Shhh! The way of survival is silence!

"A Quiet Place Part II" opens with the story starting from day one again, where extraterrestrial visitors devastate the city. Some Christians pray to Jehovah, saying, "May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Jehovah doesn't respond, and the believers meet their demise due to their prayers, as the divine power no longer protects the land. It's a day of action and silence, which is the first day. The first day ends with a scene of a police officer being killed by the monsters. Religion and government lose their influence, and internal and external constraints and protections disappear. Humanity returns to the moment when it walked out of the African jungle. As a thriller and post-apocalyptic film, "A Quiet Place" sets the clock of human progress to the end, which is also a new beginning, exploring what it means to be human.

Beyond the film's title, "A Quiet Place Part II" continues the timeline of the previous film, with Regan, the daughter, inheriting her father's legacy and seeking a utopia suited for the present. Her father's sacrifice didn't attract any rescue, and Regan doesn't have a better solution. Her only choice is to change from "waiting" to "searching." Regan's desire to venture out eventually brings her a day of peace, even if true peace doesn't exist in a world surrounded by monsters.

Survival is the primary challenge that the characters in "A Quiet Place" face. Alongside the simple desire to survive, they grapple with the question of how to retain their humanity as well. Survival comes with the brutality of the natural world, while existence is a uniquely human concept. The characters ponder their relationships with themselves and others, as well as their place in the world. Even after the disaster, Lee Abbott's family still holds onto the idea of family as an existential unit, carrying out silent prayers before meals. Siblings play Monopoly in the basement, a couple dances while listening to Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" with headphones, and a mother teaches her son math. All these activities are unnecessary for survival, and some might even be counterproductive, but they represent existence—what it means to be human.

"A Quiet Place Part II" depicts the events of the day when the disaster first struck. The boy Marcus has a baseball game, and his family comes to watch, cheering him on. His late brother Beau brought him candy to relieve stress. Love and family are established as fundamental elements at the beginning of the story. Regan continues to be haunted by the death of her little brother Beau, even though she gives him a toy plane with the batteries removed as an act of love. This kind of love is once again demonstrated in the underground factory pipeline. In an oxygen-depleted environment, the boy Marcus and the baby share an oxygen mask, and the lack of oxygen puts their humanity to the test. If assessed with a rational approach, the baby would be the natural sacrifice. However, at the moment when the mother opens the door to the pipeline, the oxygen mask stays with the baby, and Marcus has already passed out from oxygen deprivation. This is not only a demonstration of Marcus's love for his brother but also a promise to his mother that he will take care of him.

Choosing the smaller over the larger is an individual-based decision, while choosing the larger over the smaller is a decision to ensure continuation of the species. Post-apocalyptic themes differ from typical disaster films because the disaster doesn't pass quickly. When the apocalypse arrives, humanity can only adapt and strive to survive for as long as possible. Educating the next generation and passing on knowledge is essential for the continuity of civilization. In "A Quiet Place," where agriculture is impossible and land animals face the same fate as humans, fishing becomes a crucial survival skill. When the father intends to take Marcus to learn how to fish, the mother tells him, "Learning these skills is very important for you. I just hope that you can take care of yourself and take care of me when I'm old, with my hair all white and teeth falling out." This decision is based on the idea of surviving longer as a group, rather than individual longevity. It's also why the father, motivated by love, sacrifices himself for his children.

Remembrance of the deceased is a significant part of human civilization. In "A Quiet Place," characters visit the "grave" of the family's earliest deceased member several times, but each time, they move farther away from it. The promise to keep going is made out of love for those who have passed away. The sequel further shifts the focus onto Regan, and her guilt over her brother Beau's death drives her to save Marcus, after he falls into the grain silo. Love can be inherently weak, but the power unleashed by love can be immense. The hearing aid that can kill the monsters originated from the father's failed attempts to provide his deaf daughter with a tool to overcome her disability. Love becomes the weapon against the monsters. After the father's death, Regan takes on the role of the family's leader. She has to lead the family farther.

Being overly explicit in storytelling can lead to losing the richness of interpretation, making the narrative too specific and dry. In many thriller films, the monsters have concrete forms, as seen in Bong Joon-ho's "The Host," which symbolizes state power. In "A Quiet Place," the monsters demand that humans remain silent to survive, but ironically, it's making noise that defeats the monsters. These monsters are not like typical creatures in other horror films that rely on visual cues. They have an acute sense of hearing, detecting human sounds from afar. In the case of Regan, who is deaf, without external tools, she cannot hear any sounds. However, Regan becomes the key to defeating the monsters, as she observes that the high-pitched noise can neutralize the monsters and possibly kill them.

I would like to extend the interpretation of "A Quiet Place" further. Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, renowned as the "Latin American voice," chronicles the history of the colonization of the American continent in his three-volume work "Memory of Fire." The first impression of the indigenous people when they saw Columbus is, "Come see men from heaven!" This mirrors the opening scene of "A Quiet Place" when humans first see the monsters. Another similarity is that the outsiders are not considered human, just as the "monsters" in "A Quiet Place" are not perceived as human. Colonization led to the complete destruction of religion and civilization, and this is the "first day" in "A Quiet Place," where those in power make the noise, and the colonized are required to remain silent. The film opens with a replacement of religion: "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." In this context, the "saying" is discarded, and silence becomes the law for survival. The cruel rulers go blind, and they use their acute hearing to monitor the different sounds.

So, I would assert that if "A Quiet Place" carries a political metaphor, it symbolizes a form of colonial rule. The film portrays the community of humans after the arrival of the monsters. The father and son encounter an old man who has lost his wife on their way back from fishing, and the old man screams loudly before being instantly killed by the monsters. This is the most direct and brutal method, but its effectiveness is questionable. Emmett, who has lost his child, encounters the family of Evelyn while escaping. Emmett despises the monsters but chooses to remain silent to survive, as he believes that no one can kill the monsters. Regan and Emmett face threats and betrayal from other humans when they search for a boat, and these people are just as silent but become complicit in the monsters' reign. The survivors on the island, who don't have to stay silent and take each day as it comes, forget that appeasement cannot guarantee peace.

"A Quiet Place" falls into the horror genre, but it is, more accurately, a thriller. Today's moviegoers often position themselves as consumers of a particular service. Due to the inherent connection between thrillers and horror, viewers often assess thriller films based on whether they are frightening, the self-consistency of the plot, and often overlook that thrillers are a medium to write about "monsters." The essential question is, "What is it that we fear?" This is the deeper layer of expression that thrillers should explore. In "A Quiet Place," what makes us uneasy is not the cruelty of the monsters but the idea that, as humans, they cannot make a sound. The Abbott family is not fighting for survival; they are fighting for their dignity. Director John Krasinski, through two films where characters cannot speak, conveys the message that the very thing they are not allowed to do might be what they fear.