Children of a Lesser God (1986, USA, dir. Randa Haines) follows a hearing teacher at a school for the deaf who falls in love with Sarah, a deaf mute janitor who has been deaf since birth. After many obstacles, their love helps them break through every barrier. Though somewhat too Hollywood in its sensibility, the film manages to convey the vital importance of qualified teachers in supporting deaf people. It's a romantic plot—perhaps overly so—and deliberately optimistic: both lead actors deliver capable performances, though they come across as almost too beautiful, too perfect, too pure to quite believe.
Did you like the film?
I liked it very much because it tells the story of Sarah, an American deaf woman—beautiful and fascinating. She doesn't speak, and she falls in love with James, a professor who teaches deaf students to speak at a university.
What aspects of the main character struck you most?
Sarah has a very hard and cruel personality—irritating and rebellious—but she has passion and she's intelligent.
Do you see yourself in her?
Sarah and I are quite different, because I have a normal voice and I can speak well. I also use sign language: I learned to use my voice at a school for the deaf.
Why does Sarah refuse to use her voice instead of sign language? What do you think about that?
Sarah refuses to speak because she suffered trauma as a child. Her friends made fun of her voice—it was ugly and distorted—so she uses only sign language. For me, it's very important to speak with my voice. But I think Sarah is ashamed because her voice is ugly and very hard to understand; that's why she won't learn to use it.
Do you think the director was sincere and genuinely moved by the deaf experience, or was he just making a commercial film?
I think the director approached the deaf world in a true and moving way. I'm glad because this was one of the first times a film like this was shown with subtitles. Most subtitled films only appeared in prime time on national networks. This is so important for communication between deaf and hearing people: you can't understand a film without subtitles because the dialogue is missing, and dialogue is essential to the story. I hope films will be subtitled more and more often for deaf viewers.