Hi, Mystery Recapped here. Today, I am going to explain a Norwegian supernatural
thriller film called ‘The Innocents’ . Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care!
The movie opens up with a family traveling to their new home in the suburbs. Inside the car,
a little girl, Ida, seems annoyed by her autistic sister, Anna,
who is always humming. Out of anger, she pinches her hard, but Anna feels no pain.
In the next scene, the family arrives at their new home and the children begin
exploring the empty rooms. Soon, Ida goes to a nearby lake where she notices an earthworm
crawling. She steps on the earthworm multiple times until it dies. Just then,
Ida notices a boy looking at her from the other side of the lake.
The next day, she visits the playground and finds a number of grown ups playing football. She goes
near them and keeps on looking at their game, but none of them gives her any attention. Later, Ben,
the boy whom she saw across the lake, arrives there and befriends her. After that, he takes Ida
into the woods and shows her his superpower.He asks Ida to drop a bottle cap and changes its
direction as it falls. Ida also tries to do the same but fails. Shortly after, she returns home,
and tells her parents about Ben’s powers but none of them seem to believe her. Seeing her parents
giving more attention to Anna, Ida feels jealous. Hence, she puts a broken piece of glass inside
her shoes. After some time, the mom, Henriette, takes Anna for a walk and the little girl puts
on the same shoes. Surprisingly, she doesn’t even flinch, indicating that she doesn’t feel any pain.
The scene then shifts to Aisha, another girl living in a nearby building. She is
playing with her doll while her cat sits aside. Later, when she puts on her shoes to go outside,
she gets injured as if there is something sharp in her shoes. But when she looks at her wound,
the blood vanishes. Meanwhile, Anna’s parents are talking with a therapist about her condition.
Right then, she gets up from her seat and starts thumping her feet. After returning home from
the therapist, Henriette takes off Anna’s shoes and notices blood all over her socks.
On the other hand, Aisha is searching for her cat outside the building. When she
enters another building and climbs upstairs, she notices a doorknob moving and it's Anna
on the other side. Aisha also goes ahead and holds the doorknob. After a pause,
both of them leave the doorknob at the same time. Later at night,
after her mother puts her to bed, Aisha hears strange voices from around the apartment.
The next day, Ida takes Anna for a walk in the playground. Ben also arrives there
and the two head off, leaving Anna alone in the swing. They try to play football
but the senior boys bully Ben and send him away. After a while, he brings out a cat,
which is revealed to be of Aisha’s. He drops it from a height to see if it can successfully land
on its feet. When the duo rushes downstairs to inspect, they find the cat lying on the floor,
injured. Ben immediately finishes it off to put it out of its misery.
Surprisingly, Ida is not bothered; she simply walks away. On reaching the park,
she finds Anna playing with Aisha. It appears as if the two have formed a connection between them.
The next day, Ida leaves her sister to play with Aisha and walks towards
the basement to inspect the dead cat. However, she is shocked to find the cat
missing. She then returns to her sister and sees her with Ben. They are playing with a frisbee,
which keeps spinning for an unusually long time. Ida believes it’s Ben doing,
but the latter denies it. He reveals that it’s actually being done by her sister; Anna.
Following this, Ida asks Ben to show his concentration power by directing away a
falling stone. He does so and asks Aisha to do the same, but she refuses. This makes
Ida realize that Aisha’s special power is to have telepathic connections with other people.
After that, they decide to check if Ben has Aisha’s powers of hearing. Ben can easily
hear the words when Ida whispers to Aisha but has difficulty understanding when Ida whispers
to Anna. At the same time, Ida gets a call from her mom, asking them to return home for dinner.
Once they return, Ida whispers the word “Shark” in her sister’s ears hoping that the others will hear
it. Surprisingly, Aisha, who is at her home, draws a shark on her window while Anna draws
one on her magnetic board. Even Ben draws the shark with mud and sand on his table.
The next day, Ida and Anna are near the woods, trying to test Ben’s ability to
hear long distances. Once they reach far, Ida whispers something in Anna’s ears,
making fun of Ben. Surprisingly, he hears it and in a fit of rage, pushes Aisha telepathically.
He also throws a stone at Ida, but she is able to dodge it in time. When Ben marches towards Aisha
to punish her, Anna blocks his way. With this, the two special kids get into a telepathic fight,
causing the dirt and branches near them to move. They even end up breaking a large log behind them.
Because of the impact, a splinter is lodged deep inside Anna’s leg. Ada tells
everyone to not worry, as she believes her sister doesn’t feel pain. However,
Aisha contradicts that she can; she just cannot express it.
After reaching home, Henriette notices Anna’s wound and inquires
with Ida about where they had been the whole day. Ida tries lying about
it but Henriette scolds her for being irresponsible and reckless.
The scene then shifts to Ben’s apartment where he is playing with his food. He concentrates
on a hot boiling pot and makes it move, spilling some water. Ben laughs when he is able to do so.
His mother tries to grab the pot but gets her hand burnt in the process. Seeing Ben laughing,
she thinks that he is making fun of her and scolds him. At the same time, Ben drops a pan
from the shelf, which hits his mother on the head. Surprisingly, Aisha’s mother also starts bleeding
from her head but when Aisha tells her about it, she is not able to see the blood. Elsewhere,
Ben just stares at his mother while she lies on the floor, bleeding. The evil maniac then
drops the boiling water on her legs, causing her to scream. Despite this, Ben feels no remorse.
The next day, Henriette takes Anna outside and sits on a table, reading a book. When
she notices Anna playing with Aisha, she is shocked to hear her daughter speaking.
After some days, Ben finally comes out of his house to play,
but turns around when he notices the bullies coming towards him. Later at night,
when Ben searches for food inside the fridge, we can see his mother still lying on the
floor. He then goes inside his room and starts banging a glowing ball to his bed. Meanwhile,
a middle-aged man from another apartment is shown, who seems to be controlled by someone
as he walks out of the door and stops at the foot-bridge. He is also banging a rock in his
hand like Ben was banging the ball before. The boy who bullied Ben in the playground is about
to cross the bridge and as soon as he walks past the man, he attacks him with the rock.
The following day, Ida wakes up to her parents talking about an incident in the foot-bridge.
Later, Ida and Aisha are warned by their mothers to not go too far, but they do not listen. Ida
walks up to the bridge and notices blood around the corner. She then goes to play with Ben, who
reveals that he controls other people and makes them do the thing that he wants. At first, Ida
does not believe him but when Ben controls her and makes her climb the fridge, she becomes scared.
Later, as the two are watching the bullies play football, Ben concentrates his powers on
one of them and breaks his leg. This scares Ida, and before she notices, Ben is gone.
He reaches the woods, where he attacks the approaching Aisha with a stone. The
little girl tries to get up, but she starts gasping for breath and falls
to the ground. Ben is still not done; he tries to finish Aisha once and for all,
but Ida arrives there and pushes him, breaking his concentration. Angry,
Ben tries to attack her, but when he sees Anna approaching from afar, he runs away.
Shortly after, Aisha tries to talk with Anna telepathically, warning her to be careful
with Ben. At night, when Aisha tries to sleep, she hears Ben thumping his head on the glass
window. Terrified, she calls out for her mother, but the latter is busy crying in the kitchen.
Late at night, Ben tries to concentrate his powers until he takes over Aisha’s mother. Suddenly, Anna
wakes up from her sleep and seems worried. After Ben succeeds in controlling Aisha’s mother’s mind,
she finds herself in a dark room sensing something moving across her balcony. She grabs a knife for
safety and starts walking towards the balcony. She turns behind to see a strange looking child
holding a dead rabbit in her hand. In reality, it is Aisha, holding her toy bunny. Afraid,
the mother approaches her slowly and stabs her. As soon as Aisha is stabbed,
Anna falls on the stairs, feeling her friend’s pain. Right then, Ben loses his concentration
and Aisha’s mother snaps out of his control. Seeing her daughter dying, she cries and holds
her in her arms. Anna’s parents also find Anna on the stairs and bring her back inside.
Following Aisha’s death, Anna loses her ability to speak and this worries her parents. Ida,
who knows that it is Ben’s doing, decides to do something about it. Later,
she asks her mom about what they should do if anyone does something naughty. Henriette
suggests that they should either tell an adult or inform the police. She also
inquires if anyone is being mean to her, but Ida replies that everything is fine.
The next day, Ida decides to deal with Ben all by herself. She steals some money from
her father’s wallet and heads out. She then approaches Ben’s apartment,
holding a toy plane. Ida asks Ben to join her and the two reach the same
footbridge. While Ben is about to throw the plane, standing on the edge of the bridge,
a woman spots them and asks them to step away from there. Not wanting to waste the opportunity,
Ida pushes Ben down from the bridge and runs away into the woods. Hearing the woman still
calling out for her, she grabs a piece of glass to protect herself. She also tries to grab a stick
but it turns out to be a big snake. Terrified, she starts screaming, and the very next second,
she finds herself in a dark forest, with a strange one-legged man approaching her.
This almost gives the little girl a heart attack, and when she runs,
she again reaches the highway. Ida then holds the piece of glass so tightly that
the pain snaps her out of the illusion. She is now in the middle of the highway with a
car approaching her at a high speed. Ida jumps out of the way but the car still hits her legs.
In the next scene, she finds herself in the hospital,
with her mother by her side. Ida quickly asks about Ben,
and Henriette reveals that he survived the fall. This upsets the little girl deeply.
Later, Ida arrives home, and she anxiously keeps looking through the window. In one instance,
she finds Ben staring at her house. This makes her realize that the evil boy is trying to
control her mother and kill everyone. Hence, she hides inside the bathroom.
Shortly after, Henriette calls Ida and informs her to take care of her sister while she is
out. Ida slowly comes out of the bathroom and looks for Anna, but cannot find her around.
It is then shown that Anna has already left the house. She is now concentrating her
powers to fight Ben. Meanwhile, Ida, who is in a cast, finds it difficult to use the elevator,
so she decides to walk downstairs. Unfortunately, her support sticks slip and she is unable to climb
down. This frustrates Ida so deeply, that she lets out a wild scream; a scream loud enough
to break her leg cast. After becoming free of her shackles, Ida rushes to find her sister.
Elsewhere, the two psychic kids come face to face, on either side of the lake. Ben goes first,
and unleashes a powerful strike which knocks Anna down. He then walks away,
thinking that he has successfully defeated her. However, Anna stands
back and starts concentrating her powers once again. This time,
all the babies around them start crying while the young kids feel something strange around them.
After a while, Ida also joins her sister, and all the children in the area come out
to their balconies and stare at Ben. Their combined positive power
is finally able to defeat the evil power of Ben, causing him to die on
the spot. After this, everyone returns to their home, as if nothing happened.
In the last scene, Henriette arrives back home and asks Ida about what happened to the cast
on her leg. She does not say anything and simply hugs her mother tight. Anna,
on the other hand, can be seen scribbling and erasing something on her tablet.
