The Silent Forest 2020

Chang Cheng (Troy Liu) is a deaf teenage boy who starts his new life at a school for the hearing impaired. A tense moment on a busy street, where he chases an old man and is briefly pulled away by police, sets the tone: the officers don’t understand him, and he ends up at the police station. A compassionate teacher from his school, Mr. Wang (Liu Kuan-Ting), arrives to help him communicate, offering a quiet assurance that he believes in what Chang Cheng is trying to say. This moment of understanding becomes a lifeline for him as he adapts to a new playground of friends, routines, and challenges.

In class, Chang Cheng notices a fellow student, Bei Bei (Buffy Chen), and watches her from afar as she and her friends share laughter and energy. When he sees her on the bus later, he’s curious about the way she acts, and a misread moment leads him to toss a paper at her, hoping to understand a strange behavior she explains as “holding her breath.” That night, he glimpses lights flashing in the bathroom and Bei Bei invites him to come closer, insisting they’re simply playing a game. The two begin to form a fragile connection, drawn by their shared sense of being outsiders in a world that doesn’t always listen.

The following day brings a stark, horrifying shock. On the bus, Chang Cheng discovers a group of boys physically restraining Bei Bei and raping her, while the group’s ringleader, Xiao Guang (Kim Hyun-bin), signals him to stay silent. The bus chaperone witnesses something but remains quiet. The brutality of the moment shatters the illusion of safety at school and on the way to it, and Chang Cheng runs away in horror. The trauma is compounded when Bei Bei’s confidence dissolves into fear; she continues to move with her attackers, insisting that some days they are “nice,” but the reality remains that she is being harmed.

Back at school, Bei Bei continues to play with the same boys, including the ones who harmed her, while Chang Cheng’s family and Mr. Wang push for action. Chang Cheng goes to Mr. Wang to report what happened, and Bei Bei eventually speaks up to confirm the assault. In a flashback, Bei Bei recalls the bus incident from her perspective, a memory that is met with gaslighting from a teacher who insists the boys are “good kids” and would never hurt her. The truth emerges in conversations with students who reveal a broader pattern of sexual violence, harassment, and bullying that has been enabled by the school’s leadership.

Mr. Wang confronts the principal, who tries to quiet him with manipulation. Yet Mr. Wang refuses to stay silent, and a wider reckoning unfolds as the school conducts interviews. The students reveal that Xiao Guang has used coercion and peer pressure to control others, creating a toxic environment that rewards cruelty and humiliates victims. When Xiao Guang is questioned, he minimizes his actions by labeling them as “just playing,” while his parents are summoned and scolded. In a cruel turn of revenge, Xiao Guang has some of his peers attack Chang Cheng, and Bei Bei’s grandfather keeps her home from school to protect her.

Chang Cheng and Bei Bei try to find moments of normalcy—watching a movie together becomes a rare shared escape. A mix-up at the cinema leads them to leave the theater in search of respite, and on the way home they encounter a man being beaten in an alley. Bei Bei voices a desire to return to school, insisting that she cannot cope with the outside world alone. Chang Cheng asks Mr. Wang to persuade her grandfather to allow her to stay, but the family’s concern and love keep Bei Bei grounded, even as her grandfather is wary of the risks of reopening old wounds. Chang Cheng makes a sincere effort to communicate through text, but Bei Bei’s grandfather remains cautious about letting her go back. A hardship follows when Chang Cheng loses his hearing aid, faces a near-miss with a moving cart, and endures the anger of bystanders as the shopkeeper demands accountability for the damage.

Eventually, Bei Bei’s grandfather relents enough to allow her return to school, trusting that Chang Cheng will be there to protect her, while Chang Cheng promises to stay by her side. But the friendship and fragile trust are tested again when the two face the harsh realities of their environment at a school lunch gathering. The group dynamics take a dark turn as Xiao Guang’s influence over the other students surges, and a disturbing scene unfolds when Bao Di (Fan Rui-hsiu) becomes involved in a coercive act, orchestrated by Xiao Guang. Chang Cheng is drawn into the cycle of abuse, and the horrific acts are filmed by a bystander, underscoring a culture of silence that perpetuates harm.

A desperate attempt to shield Bei Bei leads to violence, and Bao Di’s willingness to participate is framed by manipulation and fear. Bei Bei undergoes a medical procedure to guard against future pregnancy in the face of potential rape, a painful reminder of the long shadow rape casts on victims’ lives. The story then shifts to the hospital, where Chang Cheng confronts the consequences of his actions and the consequences for Bei Bei become even more personal as she fights to recover and regain some sense of control over her future.

In a turn of revelation, a disturbing video surfaces showing that a teacher, Mr. Weng (Tiger Wang), has been abusing Xiao Guang since childhood, a secret the school had kept from the public. The discovery shatters the illusion of protection offered by authority figures and forces Mr. Wang to confront a system that has enabled abuse for far too long. The principal’s complicity becomes stark as the truth comes out, and the school community is forced to face a reckoning that goes beyond the classroom. With the principal finally fired, the story closes on a note of uneasy aftermath: the bus at the back is quiet, but Bao Di’s eyes betray a lingering anger as she stares at Chang Cheng, signaling that wounds run deep and the road to healing remains long.

This is a story told with care and restraint, focusing on the resilience of young people who seek to understand one another in a world that too often silences victims. It traces the slow unraveling of secrets, the courage it takes to speak up, and the fragile line between protection and harm within a community that is supposed to keep its students safe. It is a stark examination of power dynamics, consent, and the enduring hope that listening—truly listening—can begin to change what happens when the walls close in and the truth starts to surface.