The Story
Four years into her first serious relationship, 25 year old CSA survivor Raquel O’Brien realised she was perpetuating a cycle of abuse, only this time she was the perpetrator. In a desperate attempt to break the cycle, she decides to journey back to the source of her rage – her childhood. Her personal investigation uncovers a traumatic history laced with sexual abuse and a father with a dark secret.
Silent Waves tells one true story led by O’Brien after 18 months of raw, brutally honest and open conversations with her family about the cataclysmic circumstances of their story for the first time… and all recorded on tape.
What emerges is a larger story as her previously fractured family, emboldened by being interviewed, find the freedom to confront their conflicting versions of the events and reconcile with it and each other.
The People
Ralph O’Brien
Father
Elizabeth Deserbelles
Mother
Glenn Millard
Ralph’s Foster Son
Gabriel Vargas
Elizabeth’s Son
Héritier Lumumba
Elizabeth’s Son
Raquel O’Brien
Daughter
Marlon Castilho Ferreira
Raquel’s Partner
Matthew O’Brien
Son
Ralph O’Brien
Father
Elizabeth Deserbelles
Mother
Glenn Millard
Ralph’s Foster Son
Gabriel Vargas
Elizabeth’s Son
Héritier Lumumba
Elizabeth’s Son
Raquel O’Brien
Daughter
Matthew O’Brien
Son
Marlon Castilho Ferreira
Raquel’s Partner