Sound and Fury
by Josh Aronson
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Freeda Cat, Jaime Leigh Allen, Jemma Braham, Ruthanne Gereghty, Scott DavidsonDirector: Josh Aronson
Brand: New Video
Producer: Josh Aronson
Editor: Ann Collins
Producer: Jackie Roth
Producer: Julie Sacks
Producer: Roger Weisberg
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-01-02
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: New Video Group
Movie Reviews of Sound and Fury
Movie Review: This is my paper that my teacher did not want to read
Summary: 5 Stars
Sound and Fury is a documentary film directed by Josh Aronson. It tells the story of the Artinian family and two brothers who are faced with a difficult decision. Both brothers have a deaf child, and they have to decide if they are going to get cochlear implants for their children. One of the brother's can hear, Chris, and the other brother, Peter, is deaf. Chris and his wife Maria decided to get a cochlear implant for their child. Peter and his wife Nita (who is also deaf) are against getting a cochlear implant for their child, Heather. Peter feels that deafness is not a handicap. Heather asked her parents if she could have a cochlear implant at the age of five.
Peter and Nita like having a deaf child, and are portrayed as being afraid to lose her to the hearing world. Peter and Nita research the cochlear implant to find out if they should implant their daughter. Their research includes: interviews with medical professionals, an interview with a deaf family who implanted their child, and an interview with a hearing family who implanted their child. Peter's parents place a large amount of stress on him. They think Peter should get the cochlear implant for Heather, and they argue a great deal with Peter and Nita about the issue. Ultimately, Peter moves his family to Maryland from New York (because of the stress placed on him and his family by his grandparents and his brother) and decides not to get the cochlear implant for Heather. The film was released in 2000, and was filmed between 1998-1999.
I watched this film after already doing research on the cochlear implant and the Deaf community's reaction to the cochlear implant, so I was not surprised by the conflict; however the scope and depth in regard to the topic was more immediately accessible to me when watching this film. The hardest thing to understand about this controversial topic is: why do deaf people not want to hear? For a hearing person this makes no sense. We see deaf people making this point, but we cannot understand it. We think to ourselves: if I were deaf I would want to hear. However, after watching this film I can honestly say I understand better why deaf people resist the cochlear implant. I definitely still cannot appreciate it fully because I grew up hearing, and have never suffered the isolation and misunderstanding that the Deaf community has endured through.
We see Peter saying over and over again that he does not want to hear. He proclaims that if there were a pill he could take that would cure his deafness, he would not take it. I still have a hard time appreciating this point fully. I think with great arrogance: Peter you would love hearing if you gave it a chance. Then I have to remind myself that I have never been deaf. I have never gone through the struggle of growing up in a hearing world, and being excluded from that world. The rejection and loneliness that Peter must have felt, I have never come close to experiencing.
Then I think of the joy he must have felt when he learned ASL, and met other people like him. The Deaf community came in and saved Peter. The Deaf community showed Peter that there was a place for him in this world for him. They showed him that he could succeed in this world without hearing. They showed him an alternative way of life and an alternative history. They showed him a different way to do things. The most important thing they did for Peter though was they gave him pride. They showed him that he was valid. He had worth. He had a place in this world after all despite what the hearing world communicated to him. I can only understand this experience in theory having never gone through it myself, but I am sure the Deaf community made all the difference in the world to Peter.
Now Peter is an adult. He is married and his daughter, Heather, is deaf. I am sure he was happy that Heather was deaf because he was happy that Heather would be part of his world, but Heather wanted to get a cochlear implant. Heather did not want to be part of Peter's world. This is how Peter feels. He feels rejected by his own daughter. Next he has his parents and his brother trying to tell him what the right thing is for him to do. Peter was probably thinking: How can they understand? They are not deaf. And this I think is the crux of the issue. We cannot help someone if we do not take the time to understand their value system. If their value system is connected to being deaf, how can we expect them to abandon their deafness? Would we (the hearing) be anymore likely to abandon something that is so close to our identity?
It is difficult to discuss this film without commenting on the ultimate decision, which is revealed in the film Sound and Fury: Six Years Later. Ultimately, Peter and Nita move back to New York and have the cochlear implant operation for Heather. This decision was made by Peter who cared more about keeping his family together than he did about cochlear implants. His family was falling apart in Maryland. He was still working in New York, and was only home on the weekends. His wife had a hard time adjusting and had a nervous breakdown. His parents would not help him move back to New York without him agreeing to give Heather the cochlear implant. He decided to move back to New York and give Heather the cochlear implant for one main reason: to keep his family together. And I applaud Peter for making this difficult decision. I did not feel that he deserved the coarse treatment from his parents, and his brother. Who all felt they knew what was right, and Peter did not. If I am ever in the situation that Peter and Chris were in, I will get the cochlear implant; but I will make sure my child knows the richness of their Deaf culture. The heritage of strong deaf people such as Peter Artinian would not be forgotten in my household.
Summary of Sound and Fury
Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 01/02/2002 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: NrSimilar DVD Movies
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