A Silent Voice - The Most Emotionally Devastating Movie I Have Ever Watched!

A Silent Voice, a voice that cannot be heard, a voice that cannot be seen but a voice that can be felt and a voice that can touch the deepest part of your heart and your soul and that is the type of experience that a silent voice gave me. When I stared watching, I was not ready for it. I did not expect to have an experience that will hit me in the deepest and darkest pits of my heart. It was shocking to see what I had just witnessed. An emotionally draining movie it was and easily it is in my top 5 best movies list. Never have I cried so much while watching a film and yes I am an emotional fellow but still I never thought that I would be so emotionally drained by the end of this film. No matter what I say, my words can never fully express how I felt while watching this film. The film tells the story of a bully in the most hard hitting way I have ever seen. When we think about bullies, we automatically think about them in a one dimensional way and it is normal to think that bullies are evil and irritating and frustrating and they are a scum of earth. But this film takes a very different direction. Our protagonist Shoya Ishida was a bully in his elementary school years and he and his friends at that time bullied a newly joined student Shoko Nishimiya. Shoko is shown to be a deaf and mute. Neither can she hear properly without a hearing aid nor can she speak, a really tragic character she is. She tries to create some form of bond with her classmates but ultimately ends up being the victim of some really awful and brutal bullying from Shoya and his friends. And yes we are seeing this story from the point of view of a bully who has now grown up and is suffering and is depressed. This is the beauty of this movie. It really goes deep into the psychological thought process of a bully and gives a look into the person behind a bully but at the same time, does not excuse the all his wrong doings. Besides Shoya, we also get a deep look into the psychological thought process of Shoko. Her getting brutally bullied and being completely defenseless are some of the most disturbing scenes I have ever seen. They are genuinely blood boiling and rage inducing and I always wanted Shoya and his friends to suffer with pain during those scenes but same Shoya that I hated gets greatest sympathy from as the film moves forward thanks to some brilliant character development. Him being depressed and suffering from his mistake while being completely emotionless and being unable to come in terms with his past deeds is also equally hard to watch. The way Shoko always pretends that she was fine while getting bullied and the way she always thinks that her disability to hear and speak are the reasons for her getting treated so badly are some of the hardest to digest filmography ever and it was very difficult to keep watching without bursting into tears. Her innocence was way too pure. And the meat of this film is Shoya's character progression and the changes that occur inside him as a person as the story moves forward. From being a bully, to being rejected by everyone around him because he was a bully, to getting redemption, it was all absolutely beautiful to watch and that is why this film is an art. The anime visuals were absolutely stunning and the anime film it self is very bright and colorful but the contrast between the bright visuals and the really dark story is just fascinating. This is another one of the few films that I will consider art and It is a must watch. A really minor part of the story is also the role of parents specially Shoya's mother who ultimately has to deal with mistakes that Shoya made and the look that Shoya has on his face when he realizes that his mother suffered because of him is as realistic as it gets. This Film is an absolute masterpiece. The dark and yet heartwarming way in which it deals with the topics of bullying, depression, social anxiety, disability, social isolation, blame, karma, friendship, redemption, etc, are just fascinating to me.