CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD

Time to announce the choice for this week's "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" and I think you will really love it. CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD stars Marlee Matlin as "Sarah" and William Hurt as "James Leeds"--a dedicated teacher of deaf high school students. The reasons for choosing this film are many. First, the film is filmed in the scenic Northeast during the Fall, Winter and Summer seasons. It is a beautiful and emotional story of Love involving "Sarah", a graduate of the school whose haunted past renders her brilliance to an empty existence as the mute school janitor. Leeds is intrigued by her and sees something more than merely a beautiful young woman who scrubs floors and cleans toilets at the school but doesn't speak. As the secrets to Sarah's past gradually unfold, the film becomes increasingly interesting. James and Sarah later fall in love, but the battle between Sarah and her inner demons prevents the relationship from developing fully and therein lies the tension within the characters that keeps the audience anxiously "on the edge of their seats". Make no doubt about it. This film is more than a love story; it's a story about Hope.

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The world of the spoken word and the sign language is brilliantly delivered. The character of Leeds speaks what they are saying and this avoids the traditional subtitles we have become accustomed to with foreign films.

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This film was shot in 1986 and earned Marlee Matlin the Academy Award (c) as Best Actress in addition to being the youngest person to win the Oscar for Best Actress category (at age 21). Interestingly, Marlee Matlin did play the stage role of "Lydia" earlier, one of Leed's students, before being cast in the leading role of "Sarah" in the film. This was a highly difficult role because Matlin expressed herself non-verbally. Her body language and emotions were perfectly aligned in every scene. Few others have accomplished this in such magnitude. Only one other actress has won an Oscar for playing a non-speaking lead role (Holly Hunter, "The Piano", 1993). William Hurt performs his role as "James" with extreme dedication and focus. Jame's struggle between love and reaching out are expressed beautifully in every scene.

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Hurt was Nominated as Best Actor; Piper Laurie was nominated as Best Supporting Actress; Burt Sugarman and Patrick J. Palmer were nominated for Best Picture and Mark Medoff and Hesper Anderson were nominated for Best Screenplay. Following Matlin's Academy Award, box office demand for this film shot up an astounding 164% nationwide. I have yet to come across a bad review of this movie!

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The Music used throughout the film was another reason for my selection. Here are two quotes I uncovered about the soundtrack. "Whenever I need to escape the world and find a special place, I play this music". And, "When I heard this soundtrack during the movie I was swept away with its beauty, expressiveness and oddly, its intimacy".

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Lastly, with all of the overwhelming insanity that threatened to drown us in despair from the news in the Media these past two weeks, I felt it was time to present a movie of HOPE and PERSPECTIVE. I sincerely hope you'll love this film as much as I do. Perhaps that's why I own a copy!

Enjoy!