Last night I saw the film Children of a Lesser God* for the first time. I was in a play once that referenced it, but I didn't know anything about it other than it was about deaf people. Turns out it kinda isn't. William Hurt's character teaches lip-reading at a school for the deaf (he can hear), where he meets Marlee Matlin, a deaf woman who refuses to be taught; they fall in love quite rapidly. Their relationship is tempestuous and passionate. The film seems to be about his desire to help her, and her absolute unwillingness to be "helped" – such a simple, human story. The dialogue was very naturalistic (in the best sense), especially for an adaptation of a play. The film was quite beautifully shot, and both Hurt and Matlin are wonderful. In short, I really liked it. In fact, it touched me more than any film in recent memory. I'll admit that I teared up more than once.(Then again, earlier in the day I cried during A League of Their Own**, when one of the players gets a telegram informing her that her husband has been killed overseas. It was really, really sad!)
* The movie was shown on Turner Classic Movies, late at night; it was shown in its entirety, uncensored, with no commercials, and in letterbox format. How refreshing!
** Two movies in one day? Well, dammit, I'm on vacation!
2 comments:
I am glad that you haven't stopped blogging since you've returned from Paris.
Also, there is nothing embarassing about crying during "A League of Their Own." That is one of the videos we owned when I was growing up, and my sister and I have watched it countless times. I always used to cry when Kit and the older sister (I can't remember her name, but the one played by Geena Davis)saw each other at the Hall of Fame opening. In fact, given my hysterical state as of late, I'm kind of tearing up just thinking about it.
The older sister's name is "Dottie."
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