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Children of a Lesser God (1986)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
1/03, 3/26
3/26:
Children of a Lesser God makes for an infuriating viewing at times.
Let's start with the biggest positive. William Hurt was a terrific actor during the 80's by giving memorable
performances in Altered States,
Body Heat, The Big Chill,
Kiss of the Spider Woman,
Broadcast News, and The Accidental Tourist. But this is the best
work of his career. He absolutely carries the movie from start to finish, and his signs are impressive as well.
Marlee Matlin is still the youngest to win the Oscar for Best Actress at age 21, but there are two problems
with that. First, it's more of a supporting role as just about every scene is through William Hurt's
character's perspective. Second, her performance is nothing special; it's merely above average. The film
being incomplete at the end doesn't help.
A "love story"? Yeah, sure...it's more of grooming. To Sarah Norman's credit, she did call James Leeds out on
that. I know he doesn't realize, even on the subconscious level, that he's a predator. Sex abuse is constant
in all residential schools for the deaf. It's always covered up by authorities, participants, and victims
because each school is the only link they have to the deaf world, resulting in fear of losing it once the word
gets out. The predators are always protected and left alone. Once in a while, a sex abuse scandal will explode
in the news.
As for Sarah, she's a simpleminded woman. At some point, I guarantee that Norman will become frustrated
with her, turning their relationship into abusive. That scene when William Hurt got mad at Marlee Matlin,
yeah...his rage is 100% real and visceral. Therefore, I wasn't surprised years later when the truth came out in
her autobiography. Here's a fun fact: Just after William Hurt moved the light directly to the audience, Marlee
Matlin is shown on the floor; observe a bruise on her leg and also on her left chest by the shoulder. They came
from his beatings.
In the meantime, I screamed constantly at the director, "Pull the camera back!" That's because I couldn't see
most of the signs which kept getting cut off at the bottom. It's like William Hurt and Marlee Matlin worked so
hard to have the signs right but all of their effort went for naught on screen. William Hurt and Piper Laurie
interpreting the signs aloud...why? Nobody does that in real life! Just supply subtitles for the deaf signers
as if it's a foreign film. Some of their signs went uninterpreted only because they were profane.
Ah, teaching deaf mutes how to speak. If their ages were from 0 to 5 or so, it can be done as long as they're
viable candidates. Otherwise, no way. That's because it takes a
long time to develop voice muscles which involves years and years of speech training. James should've known
better by selecting the right students to work with in order to continue their development, but he shouldn't
hold his breath as residential schools for the deaf are almost always sign-heavy. The final part does matter
a lot since how are they going to practice speaking?
During the film, I witnessed nothing academic at the school. It's actually par for the course, and that's why
all residential schools for the deaf should be shut down permanently with everybody integrated with their hearing
peers. As a bonus, the sex abuse will go down to zero. More importantly, they get to stay at home and know
their parents more. The interactions between Sarah and her mother...very typical. Most deaf and hard of hearing
students and their hearing parents are complete strangers to each other and have no idea how to communicate.
The music performance? Please, that's a mistake. Consider this: these students have already lost so much
ground because they can't hear, stunting their acquisition of English (remember sign language isn't the same
and will never be so). Hence, most don't read, write, or perform arithmetic well above 3rd grade, and in most
cases, they can barely move past the 1st grade level. In these schools, everybody has wasted his or her
time rehearsing for a month or two ahead of the show. Sure, they will do great on that day, but who cares? After
high school is over, most will end up staying home and collecting welfare checks for life with no chance of
employment which explains the rarity of encountering them in public.
Gallaudet University...that fake school of higher learning in Washington, D.C.? It barely graduates anyone
other than hearing students who plan to become interpreters, teachers for the deaf, speech therapists, and the
like. Of those deaf and hard of hearing who do, almost all don't become employed in the hearing world for the
degree they received. Instead, they either stay home and collect welfare checks, work for deaf schools, or take
on menial jobs such as sorting mail and packages for companies like Amazon, FedEx, USP,
USPS, and so on. Therefore, don't expect much from Sarah if she decides to attend Gallaudet. Want
to know the average SAT score for deaf and hard of hearing wannabe college students? It's 400, the minimum
possible. And when they graduate from Gallaudet University, it still will be 400.
All in all, viewers having no knowledge of what goes on in the deaf world will be left completely oblivious
after finishing Children of a Lesser God.