Watching the intro of the movie, I would say that the overall theme is understanding. The youngest child in the family seems to know the gist of the situation they are in. But maybe doesn’t fully comprehend the degree of danger disobeying would put him in. The deaf daughter understands the situation and is aware of as much as she can be. But without her cochlear, she has no perception of sound which puts her in a different sense of danger. The little boy imagines himself and his family escaping via a rocket. A toy rocketship is close to falling causing a panic in the sister. She knows the danger of letting the rocket hit the floor so she saves her brother from being in danger. Later the child is told again that the toy would be too loud by his father. The parents are protecting three children as well as themselves. Explaining to children the type of situation they’ve been put in and how to maneuver it is I’m assuming a difficult task. After being rejected the rocketship toy, the sister then goes against her father and gives her brother the toy; the daughter maybe doesn’t know that the toy would make noise or that her brother would grab the batteries that were taken out. As the family is walking to find shelter, the boy is left in the back of everyone with no supervision. He knows the toy will make noise but probably thinks at one point that it won’t do him any harm this one time. In life lessons teach someone not to do certan things. But in their situation, making noise would be a lesson that one wouldn’t be given time to reflect on.
I don’t know if this counts as one moment but I’d say when the director switches to the point of view of the daughter. Every time we are shown her pov, it becomes silence that’s not really silence. I feel this is powerful in the way that it shows the viewers a point of view that they may not be able to relate to. It makes them think of how the situation is different for her and that she has to be aware and cautious in more ways. Whenever the point of view is switched, everything is still there, the surroundings, lighting, setup, but the sound is the only thing that makes her perspective so interesting. It takes you into a different moment; it makes you switch between your other senses and focus more on other things. Also whenever in her perspective, it most times zooms in on her face. She knows the situation she is in, she is apparently aware of the possible dangers that lye dormant. But giving the rocketship toy to her brother is a mistake that she may not have fully thought through. In the end of the scene you can see the horror on her face when she turns around and realizes what the decision she had made caused. I feel her facial expressions will tell her thought processes.
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