Documentary Movie Reviews
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In the Land of the Deaf (1992)
Rate:
2
Viewed:
1/08
1/08:
Most people are unaware of what goes on in the deaf world.
Hence, In the Land of the Deaf (when it should be called In the Land of the Deaf Mute Signers ) will
be a beautiful and touching film to them, enrapturing their hearts, but I don't view it that way.
Where's the focus on deaf people who are auditory oral? Why is there no glimpse of successful deaf people
in the hearing world? Oh...that's right: in the eyes of these deaf mute signers, they're all failures. Isolationism is
their number one goal.
It disappoints me when I'm shown deaf children signing so much during their break from school. That's why many of them don't
succeed in the long run by failing to exercise their voice muscles. It's true that most, but probably all, deaf people portrayed
in the film aren't bright and have 2nd to 4th grade reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. So, they're reduced to a life with
limited opportunities for menial jobs, thus ending up on welfare. That's just great...really great.
What I want to see is a true insight into the deaf world. Nearly nothing of that kind has been shown. Instead, I'm presented with a
bunch of random useless scenes that go on and on without anything significant to say. Watching the children cry at the airport as
if they're being parted from their mother is probably the pitiful thing I've seen and makes me want to punch their faces.
There's a deaf boy telling an anecdotal story about his hearing aids that were too loud for him. Hey, moron...how about
lowering the volume? Finally, we have the king of all duds: the old man. Nearly everything he says comes out slanted
and wrong. The only correct statement he made is French Sign Language isn't the universal language of the deaf world.
Of course, it's because almost every country has its own sign language system.
While watching the awards show at the end of the movie, I was dismayed when the presenter said some rude words
about a particular small boy who's "not a hard worker." Excuse fucking me? Every deaf child has to work at least three
to four times harder than any normal hearing child. It takes a lot of energy to process the world in the absence of sound.
Hence, I wanted to tell the presenter off, "Fuck you."
Acquiring language, translating it in the brain, making sense of words that come out of people's mouth despite
hearing nothing, and making do with little information on hand are the challenges that face anyone who's deaf, especially a
little child. To succeed in speech and speechreading is the hardest task anyone can ask out of a deaf child, but some do.
Academic achievement is another matter. Without it, no deaf person is assured of a high quality life that many hearing people
take for granted, so they're left out in the cold despite their best abilities. Oftentimes than not, apart from
multiple disabilities, the only issue that get in their way is how poorly taught they are due to language
issues and the inferior deaf residential schools they attend because of the crappy teachers, even though many are deaf themselves,
who don't know anything about real life or the academics they teach.
By the way, what's so damned important when a deaf person says, "My cousin is deaf. My sister is deaf. My other sister is hearing.
My father is deaf. My mother is deaf. My grandparents on my mother's side are deaf. My father's parents are hearing. My
cousin's friend is deaf. My snake is hearing. My cat is deaf. My dog is hearing. My fish is hard of hearing. My pig is deaf.
My house is hearing"? It's just a stupid, worthless badge of honor. That's how they isolate themselves more in the deaf world.
All in all, In the Land of the Deaf is completely misleading.