So many people have cocked their head to one side and asked what this simple anagram stands for. It’s C: Child; O: Of; D: Deaf; A: Adults. That’s the name of the film and the subject, as well. Ruby is the only hearing enabled member of her family. Mother, Father, and brother all are hearing impaired. The family business is fishing and that can be terribly taxing even with a fully hearing enabled crew. It’s early hours, dealing with whatever the ocean wants you to have, and the many dangers of working at sea. People who choose this profession are extremely hard working and risk their lives every day. I know this because I have family who are fishermen.
About fifteen minutes into this film, I turned to my friend, and said that I thought we were watching the best picture, hands down, of the year. Thankfully, I was correct. This is easily the best representation, to date, of what a CODA would endure in the hearing world. It’s heartbreaking, relatable, enlightening, joyful, funny, uplifting, hopeful and desperately frustrating all at the same time. Ruby is a definite role-model for anyone who faces adversity to pursue their dreams and thinks of just chucking it all to take the “easy” way out. There is no easy way, you’re either born with the talent and you learn quickly to communicate in both worlds, or you sit on your hands, silently passing the days until it’s too, late. I hope that you, if you don’t understand now, choose to learn ASL and have normal conversations with the people who are afflicted with hearing impairment. They have their own interpretation of music, should have access to American Sign Language, some read lips, but it takes two to communicate. To have meaningful conversation, it would be great, if a course in ASL could be part of the elementary education curriculum following through to high school and beyond.
Congratulations to everyone associated with this film. I am so glad that it made it to the top prize category because it truly should be recognized as the best of the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment