Another quality offshoot of domestic television production, and it is no wonder that it is known that Dalibor Matanić was behind the camera, the director who shot two of the best Croatian series in recent years, “Novine” and “Područje bez signala”. And just as was the case with “Novine” where the screenplay was written by one of the best Croatian journalists Ivica Đikić, “Silence” was based on the novels of another leading Croatian journalist, Drago Hedl. In his crime novels, Hedl mixed fiction and reality with a bit of Capote style and dealt with the hidden cases of child prostitution and human trafficking in his Osijek, which really happened fifteen years ago.
What really happened in Osijek in those years with the unfortunate girls from the Home for the Upbringing of Children and Youth has never been clarified, as the case was covered up because the branches obviously led to some politically extremely powerful people. However, this horrifying story has now served as a template for another quality crime series that is somewhat reminiscent of Nordic-noir in style and sensibility, and “Silence” is a series in front of which many praised Nordic series with similar content as “Sorjonen” can be hidden. or “Wisting,” which I’ve watched relatively recently. Apart from Osijek, the action is taking place in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, from which the niece of the head of the Romancheko Foundation, Olga (Ksenia Mishina), will disappear.
Olga is married to one of the most influential people in Osijek, an entrepreneur with political ambitions Ivan Hrvatić (Leon Lučev is excellent as a classic slimy domestic mute). Simultaneously with the disappearance of the young Ukrainian, the bodies of minors will begin to appear along the banks of the Drava. The head of the police administration wants the case resolved as soon as possible and pressures inspectors Vladimir Kovač (Darko Milas) and Vesna Horak (Sandra Lončarić) to close the murders to an old mental patient who found his first girlfriend, Igor Kožul (Zlatko Burić). There is also a local journalist Stribor (Goran Bogdan) who is intensively following the whole case, and the Ukrainian segment of the story of human trafficking will slowly begin to merge with the Osijek series of deaths under unusual circumstances.
Production is at the expected level, and the main characters are well built and the actors are in solid form. Stribor is such a classic freelance journalist who can barely make ends meet, and there is a pregnant wife, so although he does not want to “sell”, the lack of money could force him to start making some “deals” that would otherwise burst stomach ulcers. . Inspector Kovac is a tortured guy haunted by internal demons. He divorced his wife, his mother is seriously ill, and he doesn’t seem to know what to do with the emotions that seem to be developing towards his colleague. He understands where he is and what the situation is like in general, and he is literally sick of not having the freedom to squeeze big fish that are under the obvious protection of his superiors.
The beautiful Olga is also a rather mysterious person and we do not know how she ended up with a mutt like Hrvatić and that it is obvious that she also has some stains and secrets from the past. This whole story is all the more horrible and scary when we know that it is designed according to real events and that a lot of what we will see really happened practically in our backyard. The circumstances and the environment here are completely clear to us of the mud of Croatian politics and everyday life in which ordinary people can suffer because of the most ordinary nonsense while there are holy cows who can do whatever they want with impunity. Both Osijek and Kyiv served as a great backdrop, so just like in “Novine” and “Šutnja” there are a lot of drone shots from the air and this is certainly a series that should be paid attention to. Rating 8/10.
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