Documentary Movie Reviews
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Sound and Fury (2000)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
4/08, 7/11
4/08:
Sound and Fury is a major improvement over the idiotic
In the Land of the Deaf which doesn't speak for the wide spectrum of deaf people.
There are numerous reasons to like the powerful documentary which consists of an open, healthy clash between two
polarizing groups about cochlear implants. The segment from 28th to 40th minute is brilliant and absolutely fundamental
to the debate. What's essential comes down to the parents deciding what's best for their child.
My issue with the deaf world is the backward, negative, and close-minded culture. It doesn't value or provide quality
education and job opportunities that are taken granted by hearing people nowadays. Standards are absymally low because deaf
people don't interact with the outside world. They look down on anyone who aren't deaf enough to meet their criteria.
The Alexander Graham Bell-Edward Miner Gallaudet debate has been going on for a long time. It starts with this
question: what's the best mode of communication for the deaf? Is it oral or manual? A mix of both? Which comes first:
English or American Sign Language? What are the long term advantages and disadvantages?
Whatever the answer is, the net result isn't pretty because the median level of reading, writing and arithmetic skills
among the deaf is 4th grade which has stayed stuck for decades. That's why doctors are hopeful about the future because
of what cochlear implants can bring to the table. It's the basis of Sound and Fury.
By the way, when the hearing mother described the struggle to justify her decision of having her child
cochlear-implanted, she said the others' reactions were similar to taking her baby away and protecting it in the
deaf world. Does Rosemary's Baby ring a bell?
All in all, Sound and Fury is one of the best documentaries I've seen.
7/11:
Sound and Fury is a definite '10' because it perfectly describes the longstanding conflict that began
with the 19th century clash between Alexander Graham Bell and Edward Miner Gallaudet as described in Richard
Winefield's book Never Shall the Twain Meet.
During the 70's and 80's, it was a period when cochlear implants were first developed to enable deaf children to
hear more clearly than hearing aids, yet there was a low rate of success because the technology was too new and
a lot of kinks had to be worked out. It was common to see large scars behind their ears but no cochlear implants.
Today, cochlear implants have improved to the point that there are relatively few problems, technology-wise. However,
it's not a be-all-and-end-all quick fix. There's a lot of work to be done afterwards as it involves intensive parental
support, speech therapy, and mapping of sounds. After a decade or so of persistence and hard work, successful outcomes
can be reached.
Looking at the deaf people's reactions to cochlear implants in the documentary, it's obvious they were thinking
about what happened when the success rate was low, having already formed their ironclad opinions. Let's face facts:
cochlear implants are in, the deaf world is out. It's thankfully on the decline as evidenced by low student enrollment
in historical residential schools for the deaf with many of them shuttered.
As people, deaf and hearing alike, try to control the fate of deaf children, the further the debate goes on, the more likely
their lives are irrevocably ruined in the long term. What matters the most is the window of opportunity during
the first five years of their lives, and it needs to be capitalized right away.
Anyway, I feel bad for Heather Artinian, but the good news is that she eventually got cochlear implants and
is now a success story, having been accepted at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., this upcoming fall. Her path
is much easier and less fraught with stupid, time-consuming obstacles many deaf people had to go through prior to the turn
of the century.
Cochlear implants, although hearing aids can also do the same but not to a great extent, allow deaf children the opportunity
to speak and hear as well as their hearing counterparts and interact with them. This way, their world opens up more;
otherwise, restricting them to the deaf world won't broaden their horizons, and job and education opportunities will
be severely limited.
It's the narrow-minded, pro-deaf individuals who can't see it this way because they have virtually zero experience in the hearing
world and will try to ruin the lives of many by telling the parents of deaf children what to do. Well, this strategy has failed,
and that's why the deaf world is getting smaller annually.
All in all, Sound and Fury, without question, does an excellent job of showing what's going on in the deaf world.