Children of a Lesser God

I finally saw it last week. The copy from the library was not captioned, but I used Windows Media Player and the English subtitles and had no problems. It was a good movie.
 
KristinaB said:
I finally saw it last week. The copy from the library was not captioned, but I used Windows Media Player and the English subtitles and had no problems. It was a good movie.
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Just a little suggestion for using this method to watch movies that don't have subtitles and finding the subtitles for it on line. Download the VLC player. It's much better then Windows media player for this purpose.

I love the movie. As some have mentioned it is a pretty slow paced movie and you've got to be able to put your mind into the era it was made in. In other words it's a different world today then it was when this movie was made. But I love it. I just watched it on line a few days ago again.

I also remember that some deaf where upset when she spoke (English not ASL) when she excepted her award for her roll in it.
 
One of my all-time favorite movies--I've seen it a million times (okay, that's a *slight* exaggeration). I'm wondering what fluent signers think of William Hurt's performance in the movie--how natural is his ASL? Does anybody know how he prepared for the movie? I mean, did he take classes for a long time? Have a private tutor? As a non-signer who's gearing up for my ASL class in September, I think he looks pretty fluent, even though he seems to do much more finger spelling than the other characters. I'd be really interested to know what your take is on it.

Also, now that I'm getting more and more into my research on d/Deaf culture, I'm looking at the movie from a totally different angle, especially the power issues. It's not just the way he pushes Marlee Matlin's character to use her voice but also his position as a teacher and what could be seen as an abuse of power. What do you guys think?
 
A lot of people would probably say he was terrible, but honestly I think he was fine - and authentic. I know nothing about how he prepared for the role, but it can't have been all THAT long. A few months, probably, given how filming schedules usually work. His coach was Alan Barwiolek, a deaf actor.

He wasn't great, it's true. But he was a lot better than many other hearing actors who try to sign (Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus makes me cringe), and he was taking on a LOT with that role - he has to sign everything, not just a few lines here and there.

And I would say he was authentic. He was playing a hearing teacher at a school for deaf children. His background isn't explained, so we don't know if he's supposed to be a super-signing CODA or something, but I think his signing fit the character well.

Abuse of power...I don't suppose you're following the current situation in NC, are you?
 
Etoile said:
A lot of people would probably say he was terrible, but honestly I think he was fine - and authentic. I know nothing about how he prepared for the role, but it can't have been all THAT long. A few months, probably, given how filming schedules usually work. His coach was Alan Barwiolek, a deaf actor.

He wasn't great, it's true. But he was a lot better than many other hearing actors who try to sign (Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus makes me cringe), and he was taking on a LOT with that role - he has to sign everything, not just a few lines here and there.

And I would say he was authentic. He was playing a hearing teacher at a school for deaf children. His background isn't explained, so we don't know if he's supposed to be a super-signing CODA or something, but I think his signing fit the character well.

Abuse of power...I don't suppose you're following the current situation in NC, are you?
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I remember that movie, Mr. Holland's Opus, but I was so unimpressed with Richard Dreyfuss in general that I didn't notice his signing. lol Maybe I better watch it again (or, wait. Maybe not! :lol:)

What's going on in NC? I'm sorry to say I don't know anything about it, but I'd love to find out.
 
Another abuse case. Same kind of thing that's been happening for over 100 years.
 
Etoile said:
Another abuse case. Same kind of thing that's been happening for over 100 years.
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Can you tell me anything about the case or give me a link? TIA I'm going to climb a mountain right now with my kids (no kidding!) but I'll check back in later tonight. Have a great day!
 
For a Gold Star...what was the name of the TV show MM and Mark Harmon played in??
First respond that has the correct answer gets the Gold Star.
 
Didn't he date her in real life and ended up abusing her?
 
A said:
Didn't he date her in real life and ended up abusing her?
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Yes, Marlee Matlin and William Hurt dated in real life and had a pretty bad relationship. She tells about it in "I'll Scream Later."
 
i own that movie. i still like it but yes feel like it focus onwhat hearing people want deaf to speak an dlearn lip read. i do both as i am late deaf but ...

i liked the t.v. series that was on a while back called Sue Thomas F.B.Eye. that was cool. a diff actress did that one though. hear no evil was ok too.

i wonder if they are gonna do that tv series that a pilot now My Deaf Family....
 
I liked the movie, but I wasn't too impressed. You should check it out though. It is a must see and then you can decide how much you like it
 
Did you know that it was a stage play to start, with the lead role written for Phyllis Frelich?
It was considered ground breaking at the time for a real deaf actress to be cast as the lead in this play for hearing people.
 
Bottesini said:
Did you know that it was a stage play to start, with the lead role written for Phyllis Frelich?
It was considered ground breaking at the time for a real deaf actress to be cast as the lead in this play for hearing people.
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I remembered many years ago while I was living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I attended and watched a play "Children of a Lesser God" and there were no props or sets to demonstrate their surrounding of the play. It was mostly mime plus signs for the deaf actors and the hearing actors talks. I saw the interpreters (usually stand beside the hearing actors while they are acting and speaking) on stage with the actors signing what the hearing actors are saying. That open a door for us to understand what the actors are saying about their relationship between a deaf woman and a deaf man who happen to be a teacher who want to teach them to talk and not sign at all. I was kind of angry at him for doing that to her and other deaf students for forcing them to talk. I liked one young boy who refuse to talk or speak just because the hearing teacher want him to put his book down and learn to talk with him along with other deaf students. It was very sad that we had to put up with that with the hearing teachers in the mainstream schools. I realized years ago that Deaf schools are not the only ones and we all go through the same thing over oral method instead of signing. Oh, I am sick of that. :mad: Yes, I did watch the movie years ago like about twenty years ago, I think. :roll:
 
Bottesini said:
Did you know that it was a stage play to start, with the lead role written for Phyllis Frelich?
It was considered ground breaking at the time for a real deaf actress to be cast as the lead in this play for hearing people.
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I knew it was a play, I knew it was by Mark Medoff, I knew Phyllis Frelich won a Tony for it...but I never knew it was written FOR her. That's cool!

I was looking up Children of a Lesser God (them movie) on IMDb and the trivia section claimed people like Brooke Shields were considered for the role of Sarah. Oh please. After Phyllis Frelich won a Tony, they were going to consider hearing actresses for the role? I don't think so. I couldn't find any verification of that anywhere, so I submitted that item to be deleted.
 
Etoile said:
I was looking up Children of a Lesser God (them movie) on IMDb and the trivia section claimed people like Brooke Shields were considered for the role of Sarah. Oh please.
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Brooke Shields as Sarah??? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
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