Children of a Lesser God

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Leaburn O If you want a top Best Picture film about being deaf, then watch the sound of metal. Avoid this severely drab, dull, boring, stilted, overly dramatised snooze fest. Really poor film. Painful to watch. Saw it on DVD. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 08/14/24 Full Review Gertrude F This movie is far from perfect, but the story is beautiful and left me speechless at the end, so that makes up for its various flaws. I agree with those who didn't like how hurt's character says everything out loud, BUT, it does kind of symbolise the divide between the two "worlds" that the characters live within. What annoys me the most is that the movie had so much potential to be better. They could have added silent scenes so that we get to experience Sarah's perspective too, not just James's. But I love this movie and It completely changed how I look at deafness. I was very touched. The music was great, too. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/24 Full Review Okay. I found the hearing characters constantly translating everything the female lead signed incredibly annoying. It made it feel like she didn't have her own voice. Would have been better with subtitles. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/13/22 Full Review robert c The story is completely different from the stage version. Very disappointing. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Love is its own language, it shouldn't matter if you speak it or not William Hurt and a young Marlee Matlin and based on the stage play by Mark Medoff James Leeds starts teaching at a school for deaf children and he happens to meet Sarah Norman who works as a custodial A simple interaction then transforms into an act of love Sarah still has some emotion withdrawal and James is still learning her language Sarah's relationship with her mother is also very strained This movie definitely blazes a trail for representation A hearing person has their own way of communicating while a deaf person has theirs, they need to be on the same page, it can't be a one way street, some can't handle the barrier of non-hearing, learning the language isn't enough you have to commit to speaking rather than talking Marlee Matlin transcends in her performance and the film offers a new gloss on love with the barriers and extensions of language Hurt is really good too Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review William L A romantic version of The Miracle Worker with education subplots that would suggest the coming of films like Stand and Deliver and Dead Poets Society, Children of a Lesser God may have been legitimately innovative in its treatment of deaf characters but its love story feels pretty predictable, intermittently sappy, and drawn out. Much of this is offset by the performances of both Hurt and Matlin, who are energetic, involved, passionate, and play off one another very well, even with Hurt echoing Matlin's lines so that the audience can understand them (which may have been a necessity in the original stage play, but subtitles might have been more suitable in a film adaptation, allowing the pace of conversations to be better preserved). A big detractor for the film is the soundtrack, with strange, creaky instrumentals hanging over pivotal scenes that sound as if they were made by barn door hinges. External threats and secondary subplots are established but never followed up on, as James unorthodox teaching methods are initially called into question but never condemned, and the rebellious members of class are never given enough attention to matter, but instead just break up the monotony of the protagonists' relationship. Well-intentioned, but poorly aged. (3/5) Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/05/21 Full Review Read all reviews

Children of a Lesser God

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