Sound and Fury


Synopsis
Two brothers and their families try to decide where they stand on cochlear implants, a device with which a deaf person can gain some hearing. (NR, 2000)


Observations
At times this movie’s message is if you’re not deaf, you don’t get it. And that’s exactly how I felt. If a part of your body or your child’s body were broke, why wouldn’t you want to fix it? The arguments against getting the implant revolved mainly around the idea of “deaf culture.” To get a cochlear implant, the deaf parents felt, would alienate their child from the rich heritage of deaf culture. But is that an excuse? An excuse to keep their child not only close to them, but just like them? Is it child abuse to have this technology available and deny it to a child, in whom the formative years of language development are short-lived and critical to success? These questions are all raised in a compassionate but inquisitive way.

The idea of deaf culture was foreign to me. And I can see how to the older generation, who would not be helped by the implant, could feel that their culture was being threatened. But is it more important for your child to function in this deaf culture than to have all the opportunities a hearing person has? One hearing parent makes the observation – if your child is deaf, how can he be a surgeon? In thinking about that, there are many occupations that rely on hearing. Even the deaf father in the film agrees that although he has a white-collar job, he cannot climb much higher on the corporate ladder because of his disability. Why would you be willing to limit your child when the technology is available? Like I said, I don’t get it.

It was riveting to watch five-year-old children sign -- absolutely amazing, and a true tribute the visceral importance of our need to communicate. I was saddened watching the young girl play. She did her best to make Barbie sign, but it just doesn’t work. How isolating that must seem.

This film has translators for the deaf people. They sounded a little like Japanese anime characters, but it was tolerable. What was intolerable though was that there are NO subtitles with this film. Was this oversight, or a way of making the point that this is a hearing world? You decide.

Rating:
Amazon's entry for Sound and Fury