Movie Review: Nightsiren

The basic premise of Nightsiren is a young woman returns to the backwoods village she hails from twenty years after running away and discovers practically nothing has changed. It’s still the same terrible place she fled from all those years ago!

This film from Slovenia will not be for everyone. Foreign films have their own cultural mores, structure and general feel to them. While Nightsiren is ultimately a story of redemption it will often come off as dreary, depressing and perhaps even outrageous to American sensibilities. You will have to bear in mind that this is not just a foreign culture but one that is very backwards in nature, far removed from the modern world in its practice and standards of living.

The main protagonist Sarlota is the audience’s POV. She ran from her home because the environment was very abusive, as her mother beat her unceasingly. Her escape however led to a terrible event occurring which has haunted the young woman ever since. She only returns because of a court notice about the disposition of her inheritance after the passing of her mother.

As mentioned Sarlota finds little has changed since she left her village as a child. Superstition runs rampant, brutally is a way of life (men beat their women and children and women beat their children). For some this aspect of the film will be hard to take. No one struggles against this, it is merely a fact of life in the village. This stands in stark contrast to the nearby city that Sarlota visits from time to time that reflects the type of world she has spent the past two decades living in.

Sarlota is very much the fish out of water in her former home, outsiders are looked upon with great suspicion. The villagers still believe in witches, hexes and black magic and to be an outsider quickly becomes a dangerous prospect. Only a few locals seem to have any interest in Sarlota outside of suspicion with the free spirited Mira becoming her own true friend.

The acting is very good, all present play their parts well. Natalia Germani is perfectly haunted and guilt ridden as Sarlota, but not entirely defeated by her past. There is still a strength to her and a desire to live life and to see a mystery to its end even when I’m screaming at the screen for her to flee back to wherever she came from. Eva Mores is a delight as the rebellious Mira. A woman who has grown up in and near said village but fearless taunts any who would seek to stifle her in any way. The other actors involved gamely play their parts be they cruel, superstitious or just depressingly hopeless.

The village is a thing lost in a prior era. Its destitute suffering contrasts strikingly with the city that is so nearby as practical wooden huts give way to buildings made of stone and a life of modern convenience over one of struggle and suffering. The visual contrast continues as you observe the woods that enshroud the village, against the relative urbanization of the city.

But this forested isolation is used to its maximum by the director. When accusations of witchcraft start flying, the setting becomes dark and foreboding. Beautiful vistas are replaced with unknowable distance and you never feel that the protagonists are safe. The cinematography is breathtaking, especially where the landscapes are concerned and the director knows precisely when to switch from dirty reality to dream-like sequences to leave you guessing as to whether or not there is magic at play or merely mass hysteria. I’m still not one hundred percent certain myself but I have some ideas.

One thing is clear, whether you decide there are witches casting spells within this insular community or not, it is quite clear that the worst monsters are of the human sort. Fear, ignorance, despair, apathy and hypocrisy all contribute to create an environment primed for disaster, generation after generation. But there is a chance for hope as long as Mira and Sarlota survive their ordeals. However, you will have to watch the film to see how all of that is resolved, or not.

Overall; 5 Stars