User Reviews

While I agree with the previous reviewer that this movie isn't the Best, I do not understand his/her harsh criticism over the "oral deaf" issue. I did not see this perspective of the film at all. Perhaps personal bias got the better of that reviewer. I wasn't exactly raised culturally deaf--and though I use ASL now, I do sympathize with oral deaf people. I still did not feel like this movie was anti- As for my review, the movie is visually beautiful with some great shots of Boston. I had a problem with the acting as well as the storyline. The actors' signing looked so scripted, they didn't seem natural at all. In some scenes they actually looked like they were "waiting" on lines rather than paying attention to the scene or other characters. It felt as if you could actually see each "take". The storyline was a bit clichéd--but the filming and photography were lovely. The artistic direction was great--just need better actors and perhaps leave the director BEHIND the camera.

Honestly, the movie sucks. Although it shows great filming skills (i.e. technical details such as different angles, light, etc) and has great actors, the plot turned me off. The movie maker didn't really think about his audience and seems to vent too much of his anger there. Also, it lacks the moral values as the good guys suddenly decided to become bad in the end of the movie. Arthur unreasonably criticizes the oral deaf people and is too extreme in trying to kill one of their supporters to show that ASL is better than the spoken language which is really stupid and immature. He doesn't seem to want to accept that there are different kinds of deaf people using different communication methods and that there is nothing wrong for them to blend into the mainstream culture if that's what they want. He could have filmed about the ASL to emphasize it as part of the Deaf culture rather than criticize the spoken language and how "bad" the oral deaf people are. His movie is not very pleasant to watch for some Deaf signers either. Just that there's too much anger and no moral values, period.

With excellent use of film technique and character development, the film depicts cultural clashes between deaf and hearing people. This is a complicated and eye opening film for people who have no idea about American Sign Language and Deaf culture. In our society there's a chasm between those who are culturally Deaf and use American Sign Language and those who reject Deaf people and try to blend in with hearing people. I have noticed the people who vote low on this film are those that have been systematically taught to view American Sign Language and Deaf culture as inferior. Those who vote high on this film are those who have a positive view of American Sign Language and Deaf culture. Ignore those comments and judge the film for yourself.