The Tribe (2006)

How sad is this?

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

What exactly is the point being made here? Is it that walking around in a group wearing dark clothing, eating insects for tea, sleeping with multiple partners both female and male, living as a communion in a grotty abandoned building and spending the day flogging knocked-off phones is a good way to live? If it is, then Mr Poliakoff doesn't set out his argument well... There are so many character shifts, contradictions and inconsistencies here, I got the feeling he was making it up as he went along. He has at his disposal a cast of brilliant British actors (And Anna Friel) and gets them to behave like ninnies for 100 minutes, with the odd nudie shot thrown in. In fact, I could just delete this whole review, and sum it up in two words: 'Pretentious Twaddle'. Now why didn't I think of that before... 3/10

This film is about a concept which most people don't tend to think about: how could a group of people isolate themselves from surroundings which they don't like and manage to lead a paradisiac life? Admittedly the story is sometimes a bit silly, but if you complain about these things you're missing the point, which is about how willing people might be to leave their current life, job, wife, etc. I really liked this film, and it's a shame it's not available to buy.

I really liked this. It was really nice to see so refreshingly different. I thought it was interesting to explore how such a 'tribe' such as that featured in the film might survive in todays world and how they would work to stand together and overcome intolerance and fear of others who refuse to understand or live and let live. Also good to see such great British actresses as Laura Fraser and Anna Friel on our screens.

Dropped from a theatrical release and shown late on BBC2, 'The Tribe' iso one of the 150 films made each year in Britain which fails at the distribution hurdle. Which is a shame, because as an experience there are few films as strange, tingly and beautiful.A reluctant Northam finds himself in the position of having to evict a long standing cult from a fabulous piece of real estate. He is amazed to find a group of people who seem to be happy to live within on the edges of society, who are happy with their own company but happy to use the world around them from nature to people as they see fit. As he is drawn into their world he finds that he can only be the agent of its destruction.It's a theme which in many ways was covered a little more successfully in 'Pleasantville' and in countless films about rain forests. Working better in this film is the theme of the outsider in society - the twist being how much like them we would like to be. Years before 'The Matrix' we have people in long black coats striding arrogantly through their landscape, through city parks and the inner city. The bystanders look on with a mixture of discust and envy.Richardson offers an enigmatic performance, as do the other 'are you in it too?' members of the tribe. Like Northam we don't know who they are and its at only very infrequent moments that we see the cracks below their reserve. By offering such understated performances, we find ourselves trying to reflect into them. Our imaginations try to work out their former lives.Whilst we know the ending is innevitable, like the lead character we are happy to be taken along for the ride . . .