Streaming series review - The Silence

The Silence (Zlomovchannya) ***1/2 (out of 5) (Unrated) This six-episode crime drama from Ukrainian and Croatian TV is both compelling and timely. The plot revolves around missing and murdered young women from both countries that are discovered to be the tip of a human-trafficking iceberg. The focus is on the police, press and others who risk all to find the missing and bust the extensive criminal enterprise that seems responsible for their losses.

The cops, headed by Vladimir (Darko Milas) in Croatia, start off with two deaths – one by drowning, the other an overdose. The link between them and others of ill fates is first appreciated by a journalist, Stribor (Goran Bogdan), whose efforts are variably resented, tolerated, and ultimately essential to the police efforts. The third principal is Ukrainian Olga (Kseniya Mishina), the wife of a rich, influential politico, frantically trying to find her missing niece, who may or may not be one of the victims of the of the traffickers.

No plot details forthcoming here. What’s important to know is that the tale is well-written and efficiently presented, with some surprises along the way. Regular readers of these reviews will know that I frequently find series offering one season-long mystery, rather than the more familiar stand-alone weekly crime format, to be diluted by stretching their plots into more episodes than needed. Impatience is not a friend of dramatic impact, and sustained empathy with the characters and whatever they are facing. Not a problem in this case.

Director Dalibor Matanic and his team crafted a taut thriller from the screenplay they were given, allowing complexity of the characters and the ebbs and flows of their sleuthing and relationships with each other to unfold effectively. Performances are mostly understated, giving the tale a realistic overall tenor, befitting the serious real-world subject matter. At the 2022 Sarajevo Film Festival, the screenplay and three of the principal cast were award nominees in their Drama Series categories.

(The Silence (Zlomovchannya), in Croatian, Ukrainian and Russian, with subtitles, streams on Topic as of January 19, 2023.)