Speak No Evil or rather There is No Evil

"Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil."

This phrase comes from the Buddhist lessons of the three monkeys named Mizaru, Kikasaru and Iwazaru; each one represents one of the parts of this principle—which was slightly modified when it got to the Western world several years ago. The vague sense of hope and the development of relationships among humans made us give this phrase a… darker meaning, so to speak. In summary, the principle refers to "ignoring bad behavior or wrong actions," a pattern repeated on this side of the ocean basically since forever. We are so naturally skeptical and caring that, many times, we don't realize evil is lurking right behind us. Personally, my mother "traumatized" me—in the good sense of the word—when I was young so I have always been a natural observer and I can read people from the second I place my eyes on them.

If there's only one actor capable of making me forget for a while that Hollywood made the awful decision of producing—once again—a remake of Christian Tafdrup's amazing European horror movie, that's James McAvoy. He's one of the most chameleonic and wildly savage actors who perfectly understands what his job is, nothing more and nothing less. I'm going to be completely honest; I didn't have much faith in the last American attempt to remake a foreign success, but upon finishing this awkward experience, I no longer felt that bad about it. This is greatly due to the complete dedication of the Irish actor.

The hit, or rather the cleverness of Universal and Blumhouse, lied in the fact that not many people paid enough attention to the small and grim 2022 film created by the coldest and ruthless Scandinavian minds. Personally, getting over the "original" Speak No Evil version's ending was traumatizing. I knew that if someday any American producer decided to give a huge check to this film's creators to remake an American version, the result could never be that cold. And I was right… It was clever, but not bold. It seems American cinema reached its highest risk level six years ago when Thanos snapped his fingers at the end of Avengers: Infinity War and half of the most charismatic characters on Earth disappeared. Nonetheless, of course, people's anxiety resulted in the characters coming back a year later through Dr. Strange's circles and that's it, a happy ending.

So, what's new about this version? Absolutely nothing more than the mere curiosity of seeing how everything ended and, sure, McAvoy's great performance, which is worthy of being remembered for a long time. This last aspect wasn't so evident in the first version, even though the actors were pretty decent. The story is quite known: a middle-class family with marital issues meets another family on a relaxed European vacation and these strangers invite them to spend a weekend in their country house to clear their minds. The movie has a kind of "anti-home invasion" vibe in which the victims are not forced to make decisions, but are rather meticulously and skillfully manipulated into doing so.

Evil's genesis. This concept of who we are or who are the ones we let in our lives is what enhanced the genre with the Danish movie's premiere. Are people naturally bad or are they bad because we allow them to be? Who is more responsible? In the American version, it seems there's no evil, but rather an insinuation of it. It's a mere pinch of humanity's worst daily aberrations, but, if we think about it for a second, it's kind of hypocritical. I don't know about Europe, but, in the United States, serial killers and criminal stories are a common topic. What was director Christian Tafdrup's inspiration for the approach he used for the original version? His own experience. He lived the same as the middle-class family but with the sole—and radical— difference that he never accepted the invitation. That uncertainty about what could have happened consumed him for a while until he decided to write a script about it.

But the most important difference between the two versions is the ending. Just like The Shining, you already know evil is present since it can be felt. But unlike Kubrick's film and the Danish version of Speak No Evil, you don't know how everything is going to end unless you have read Stephen King's novel. Yes, Jack Torrance shows signs of being completely crazy from the beginning, but what new thing can the character do in the last 15 minutes? This question should have inspired director James Watkins to present his work with a new approach to remakes. What are they scared of?

BY JERÓNIMO CASCO

Posted on OCTOBER 22, 2024, 17:07 PM | UTC-GMT -3

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