A Quiet Place: Day One | Review by Anthony Pio

Spoiler Alert

The unmatched power of storytelling is on display in A Quiet Place: Day One, consciously trying to use all tropes of the art, succeeding in many and failing in some. The ending is predictable. The terrorising moments worked well, and the focus, even though it’s a monster movie in the horror and sci-fi genre, is more on the existential crisis of life and death.

The Long Shot, after a few minutes into the movie, takes the audience into New York City along with the protagonist, Samira, played by Lupita Nyong'o. The protagonist is a patient with terminal cancer. She lives in a treatment facility with many other patients. The movie begins with a group session, in which we see the utter hopelessness of Samira’s existence. Reuben, played by Alex Wolff, the nurse in the facility, is humble, persistent, and loving. It was his compassionate nudge that impelled Samira to travel to the city along with some others in the facility on a bus.

From the monotony and dullness of the treatment facility, Samira’s bus moves towards New York City, full of life, its hustle-bustle, and of course, noise. The city is evocative of life in general with its dreams, aspirations, joys, and vicissitudes. Samira desires to have pizza in the city. The desire is symbolic of both her simplicity and the utter hopelessness of her existence.

Samira’s bus moves towards the city, journeying from resignation and death to resilience and life. As we know, life is not always full of flowers and sunshine. The unthinkable happens in Samira’s world. The monsters arrive from space.

Those who are familiar with the Quiet Place franchise know that the monsters are extremely susceptible to sound, any sound. They attack and destroy the source of the sound. A Quiet Place: Day One is a prequel to the franchise’s first two instalments. This is the story of how and when it started—the arrival of the monsters. However, the movie does not dwell much on the details of the arrival of the monsters like an “Optimus Prime” narrative style. Instead, it places the cosmic cataclysm in the purview of the story of the death foretold, Samira. It is her life and the events that happen there.

The Quiet Place franchise is renowned for its use of sound to create horror and tension. Here also, there are genuine attempts to repeat the same. However, in the story of Samira, a person moving quickly towards death due to her terminal illness, the heaviness of emotions overshadows the play of sound. Still, the monsters are freaking good at terrorising the audience. A Quiet Place: Day One is a movie with an overall excellence. It has a balance of all art: music, visuals, dialogues (yes, it has some, spoken in whispers), and cinematography. What they usually say about good horror movies is true with this one also: it is not for the faint of heart.

I believe it’s a good horror movie because it does not celebrate evil or valorize it. Instead, it gives unexpected moments of crisis, placing the characters in dangerous situations. From the first shot, we could feel the connection with the protagonist, and perhaps with all the other characters. Eric, another important character, played by Joseph Quinn, is a law student from London who studies in New York. Although he was perfectly ‘healthy’ and was now given directions to safety, due to fear, he was unable to move.

Paralysed by fear, Eric follows Samira, who, on the other hand, sees her death in front of her. Even after repeated prompts from Samira to go to the seaport and save himself by getting into a ship, Eric could not leave her. The movie develops their friendship in depth and breadth. This overlapping aspect of friendship gives the film a panorama of emotional hues. Just as the previous two instalments of the Quiet Place franchise, rather than following the visceral aspect of the horror genre, Day One also subscribes to the more symbolic narrative strategy.

The symbolism in the movie is rooted in a Christian moral worldview. There is a scene where Samira, Eric, and the cat were swimming through a tunnel to get away from the monster. Finally, they come across a rocky slope that is caved into the water, which was part of a broken floor of a building. They emerged onto the floor of a Christian church. As the invasion was happening, one of the comets or whatever was coming in fiery balls from space (perhaps the creatures themselves) that hit the roof of the church went through the floor of the church to create the hole and expose its interior to both the underground and the elements of the sky. It is through the hole in the ground that Samira, Eric, and the cat crawl into the church.

A Detailed Look into the Symbolism:

The Church

The symbolism of the church is poignant in that scene where the characters escape from a tunnel into safety in the church. There were other survivors also inside the church, quietly praying. The church is the bridge between heaven and the earth. The roof of the church is shown to have a big hole through which light is coming through with aura and shine. On the floor of the church, another hole connects it with the world underneath, where inside a tunnel, water flows with a loud roar. Through the underground tunnel, Samira and Eric save themselves and enter the church. Although Eric follows Samira to save his life, Samira’s own life is moving closer to death. Although she is nearing death, Eric still finds her to be his path to safety. This paradox beautifully projects several emotional colours on their friendship. It is also evocative of the role of the church, a ground of safety in the vicissitudes of life, where the heavens meet the earth, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Samira’s sacrifice to take Eric to safety at the end of the movie is certainly not without its spiritual symbolism.

The Bridge

The church is the spiritual bridge between heaven and the earth. As Samira tries to find purpose in the chaos resulting from the arrival of the monsters, we hear announcements that warn the survivors that the bridge will soon be destroyed for the safety of the rest of the population as they escape in boats. From a terrace, Samira and some others watch as the bridge is destroyed with missiles. Samira’s eyes show hopelessness.

Only later, they reach the church, which again builds hope in the minds of the audience. From that moment onward, Eric finds his purpose in life. He seems to have better control over fear. Although Samira gets physically more tired and in pain, as her painkillers wear out, Eric becomes her saviour. For Eric, life is vulnerable, and he is at the mercy of circumstances. After meeting Samira, he knows she will lead him to safety. Although Samira is the weakest person in the story, she has the most courage. She becomes the symbolic bridge between life and death for Eric.

Magic

It is interesting to watch the short musical scene where Eric performs a magic trick, pretending that the two of them are standing in front of an audience in a bar. The bar is real. The audience is imaginary. The magic is real also. It fills the monster-infested horrifying reality of the city with lightheartedness. But it does not alter reality. This scene builds up with a background score that offers melodious music, undoubtedly showing the power of art in a world on the verge of destruction.

Sacrifice

Samira’s life is certain. It is clear what would happen to her. The only question is: What would kill her? Was it the cancer or the monster? For most of us, such a life is certainly dull and hopeless. It is for Samira in the beginning. She is resigned to her fate.

However, later, we see her finding her purpose and saving the life of Eric, to the point that she becomes a sacrifice. She harbours no unreal expectations about her life. Sooner or later she would face the ultimate reality, death. But her acts in tandem with the divine plan for Eric and other survivors make her an instrument of hope. Thus the sacrifice of Samira also ties her to the centrality of Christ in human destiny, thereby connecting the other images and symbols into one clear message of hope.

In a world of seemingly endless evil, what does God do? What is the relevance of God, asks today’s culture. Day One attempts to answer it in a simple way: amidst the reign of evil, as we follow God, He will help us become part of His kingdom, where people never shy away from sacrificially loving each other, even in the face of death.

Conclusion

Whenever I watch a movie, I try to get immersed in the storyline and let myself get carried away. This helps in uncovering the nuances of any film if it’s taken care of its audience. If the movie doesn’t bother about its audience and what it may communicate, like any layman watching it, I too drive no pleasure out of it. To put it simply, watching movies has always been pleasure-driven for me. This changed since my encounter with Christ. It has changed the way I watch movies.

For example, as I was watching Day One, my mind was constantly alert, grabbing the nuances of the film while at the same time centering itself on Jesus Christ. In a film, a few people hunted by monsters started meaning a lot more than just an adrenaline rush.

Directed by Michael Sarnoski, A Quiet Place: Day One is an entertaining watch. The monsters in the movie are aliens that come from outer space. However, their status quo as aliens does not much affect the storyline or the synthesis of the various elements. The trope of alien invasion is not completely explored, unlike the existential crisis and human relationships. The cat is another animal, apart from the monsters, that gets a lot of attention. Michael Sarnoski worked on the screenplay, John Krasinski’s is the central story idea, and Bryan Woods and Scott Becks are given credit for character creation. A special round of applause for characterization and Pat Scola’s cinematography.