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Silence

Orly Yadin, Sylvie Bringas, 1998

This is the true story of Tana, whose mother is taken to Auschwitz. Tana herself is taken to another concentration camp with her grandmother, who manages to keep her safely hidden. After the war, five-year-old Tana and her grandmother move to Sweden to live with relatives. Tana is told never to speak of her experiences or ask about her mother. She spends her youth trying to blend in, but decides to leave Sweden at the age of twenty. It’s then she receives a bundle of letters written by her mother, inspiring Tana to tell her own story.

Clip Details

Genre: Animation, Documentary

Record ID: 007-002-000-069-C

Country of Origin: UK

Clip Length: 10:25

Age Group: S1-S3

Classroom Activities

  • Whose story is this?
  • Do you think the mix of live action and animation is appropriate for this story? Why has the filmmaker chosen to use animation?
  • Sound On/Vision Off. Cover the screen and listen to the soundtrack before showing the film for the first time. Listen, stopping before: ‘I was born in Germany.’ What does the dramatic music of the opening and the pronouncement, ‘This is my story,’ make the audience think the film might be about? Are there any clues as to when it might be set? How does the sound so far reflect the title?
  • Play the first minute of the film and discuss what the pupils think the film might be about. Where and when is it set? Is it immediately obvious that this is a non-fiction film?
  • Look for moments in the film that show the passage of time. Discuss how the filmmaker shows this (through images, composition and transitions). Identify the specific editing technique being used.
  • Consider the use of music in the film. What does it add to the story (consider, for instance, the use of Grieg’s Piano Concerto at the start)? Is it appropriate? Look for instances of particular musical instruments being used (this could lead to a discussion about the ‘emotion’ of certain instruments).
  • View the film focusing on the use of black & white and colour. When and why is each used?
  • Using freeze frame or printed stills from the film, discuss how the filmmaker uses composition and design to direct the viewer’s attention to certain details.
  • Screen the sequence where the child falls into blackness and the sequence of the ants being brushed away, then discuss what they might mean. Freeze the image and interpret what can be seen (for instance where the mother and baby blur into animation and the baby falls into darkness, and when the ants are on a white screen before being brushed away). What can you see in this shot? What do you think this means? What does it tell us about what is happening to the character? Suggest why the ‘white’ child falls into black and the ‘black’ ants are seen on a white surface – are we seeing things from two different points of view? Use this to lead into a discussion of how every element of a visual text carries meaning, sometimes symbolic as well as literal; and how visual images can be read just as other texts are.
  • Does this film remind you of any other films, books or stories? In what ways?
  • Ask pupils to try to re-tell Tana’s story back after watching the film. What remembered elements are events in the story and which are character experiences? (Listen out for emotion words that relate to character).
  • Insert an alternative audio – for example, the mother's voice – to consider interpretation of sound and meaning.
  • Script an alternative voiceover or a parallel voiceover from the point of view of Tana’s mother.
  • Create an alternative soundtrack with very different music.

    • Clip Details

    Genre: Animation, Documentary

    Record ID: 007-002-000-069-C

    Country of Origin: UK

    Clip Length: 10:25

    Education Level: Third & Fourth Level