Throughout the Argentine dictatorship, the military junta detained the students along with other people deemed subversive not only to prevent them from acting against the government, but also to interrogate them for information about other dissidents. One way in which the military junta attempted to fracture relationships among the imprisoned students, and therefore potentially extract more information from them, was to eliminate their sense of community, partially by limiting human contact through both physical touch and vision, but the prisoners were able to subvert this limit through verbal communication. In La noche de los lápices, the students are seen segregated individually into cramped concrete cells that prevent them from ever seeing the others. In order to maintain connections, they yelled to one another from their cells, discussing a variety of topics ranging from the fate of other prisoners to what they want to eat once they are released. At one point, they verbally coordinate performing squats to build up muscle mass through exercise. Hearing, in addition to speaking, plays an important role in this collectivity. The students can hear the sounds of the prison, including those coming from other prisoners being tortured, which draws them to communicate more in order to resist the culture of fear within the prison. When the rest of the students hear María being assaulted by a guard, they attempt to resist by collectively shouting profanities at him. Not only does their verbal communication allow them to maintain contact with one another in a situation where they are meant to be entirely isolated, but it also creates a means of collective resistance against torture executed by the military.

While the prisoners in La noche de los lápices are separated into individual cells for a majority of their incarceration, those in La voz dormida are all kept in one wing of the prison with open cells. Additionally, when the prisoners are allowed to receive visitors, they are all taken to one room separated by bars, through which they all talk at the same time. The prisoners all line one side of the bars, with the visitors on the other. Even when these women have a chance to connect with their lives before incarceration, they are surrounded by the other prisoners sharing the same experience. In the opening scene, the prisoners are seen huddling together within the cells while names are called out for execution.  As these women get up to walk to their deaths, the other prisoners say tearful goodbyes, knowing that they are losing a member of their collective. This communal experience is echoed throughout the film, with the repetition of scenes depicting the female prisoners communing in their cells. Tensi receives a package from Pepita containing letters and articles of clothing, but also items for other prisoners. One woman gets a piece of clothing that belonged to her mother and decides to gift it to another prisoner, rather than keeping the sentimental item for herself. When the fellow prisoners learn of the guards’ plan to execute Tensi toward the end of La voz dormida, they go to her and comfort her while she comes to terms with her impending death. In addition to sharing the physical space of the prison in much closer proximity than the characters in La noche de los lápices, these women also forge an emotional collective.

In both La noche de los lápices and La voz dormida the prisoners maintain personal relationships and forge a community through verbal communication, which is further developed and represented through their use of singing.