THE INNOCENTS (2021)

I stumbled upon this Norwegian supernatural horror film by accident when trawling through the C4 website for something to watch.  It's not the sort of thing I would normally go for, but I'm sure glad I gave it a go. 

Reading the plot outline on Wikipedia one could be forgiven for thinking the story is quite silly, involving kids with ESP powers and the like.

So it's to the credit of the writer and director Eskil Vogt that the film is so gripping, creepy and at times moving.  One must also acknowledge the fine performances of four child actors who almost completely dominate proceedings, with their parents (the only adults of any significance) mostly on the periphery.

Three of the four children, Ida, Ben and Aisha are of the same age (I would guess around nine years old) whilst Anna, who is Ida's older sister, is in her mid-teens.  Anna suffers from non-verbal autism (according to Wikipedia) which means she cannot communicate verbally, which is portrayed via an extraordinarily good performance by the actor in question.

At the start of the film Anna and Ida have just moved into a new area (their father has a new job), and they soon make friends with Ben and Aisha.  It soon turns out that they, other than Ida, all have telekinetic and telepathic powers.  The telepathic link between Anna and Aisha enables Anna to start to speak, and the reaction of her parents to this development is very moving.

Unfortunately things go sour because Ben, who seems to have the most developed powers, is easily upset, and so the bulk of the film then becomes a battle between him and the others.  It includes some disturbing scenes, such as Ben breaking the leg of a young boy, or him killing his mother.

Eventually it all ends happily (I guess) when it turns out that Ida also has powers, and she and Anna are able to combine to kill Ben.  

RATING: ✓ Cheers