Children of a Lesser God (1986): Dir: Randa Haines / Cast: William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie, Philip Bosco, Allison Gompf: Insightful yet overrated film about the physically limited and how God uses these limitation to make bigger things happen. It stars William Hurt who arrives to teach at a school for the deaf but is intrigued by a socially isolated female janitor. Directing debut for Randa Haines who explores the physical defects element as well as developing communication skills. Predictable narrative with Marlee Matlin giving a flawless performance in her frustration of being deaf and reluctance to communicate. Hurt is fantastic as a teacher struggling to communicate with her and obvious romance blooms. Piper Laurie plays Matlin's mother whom her daughter doesn't contact. Laurie's performance is the only supporting role worth the vision. Philip Bosco is given the standard role of principal whose job is to tell other teachers what to do then appear only when plot convenient. The students are written into useless subplots that present them as doing little more than occupying space. The strongest element regards the fascination with which these limitations become achievers with a chance future. The film isn't overly big on production and strives on its strong theme. The film's ambition is to aware everyone to the limitations and gifts of others. Score: 5 ½ / 10

Children of the Lesser God is a love story, but before the grumbling begins, it is not your typical love story. The film has the pleasure of it's main female lead actress and character being deaf, though that does not impair her ability to fall in love. I love how the movie is very warm and funny, as well as the ability to engage the audience. The film is about courage and the strength to not lot anything stand in the way of happiness. I can actually relate to the movie because I have hearing problems myself, though not nearly as bad. This is a beautiful, well- written film that displays a vast amount of authenticity. This film is about a young speech teacher named James who falls in love with one of his pupils, Sarah. But she shuns him at first because she feels he is making fun of her disability. But as they spend more time together, Sarah begins to have feelings for James whom reopens her eyes to the world. William Hurt does a very strong job as James as he made another 80's movie that featured a strong performance of his. However, the award of best performance has to go to Marlee Matlin who played Sarah. Her powerful performance, which gave her the Oscar, shows that strong performances can be given without words. It's all about the heart.Overall, Children of a Lesser God is a fantastic movie and is one of those hidden 80's movies that you should check out. The movie starts a little slow, but the acting and the screenplay are excellent. The movie always keep things light, which is good for this kind of subject matter. The film may be a love story, but it's a different kind of love story. My Grade: A

If I'm watching a film about two unlikable people that the script is desperate to put together, you can forgive me for not being too enthusiastic. In Children Of A Lesser God there's a teacher called James with an 'unconventional' style of doing things (When are we going to see a NORMAL educator doing NORMAL things?) That 'SURPRISE SURPRISE' work on his unruly class. He's just started at a school for the deaf you see, and in true Dead Poet's Society style, is the only live wire in a sea of formality. This part of the movie, as derivative as it is, is at least interesting.Then we meet the love interest Sarah, played by Oscar winner Marlee Matlin. She's 25, a former student there who's stayed on as a cleaner. For some reason, James starts to unabashedly stalk her and won't take "NO" for an answer when propositioning her for a date. She eventually gives in (Perhaps to just shut him up) and 'SHOCK HORROR' her emotions turn from dislike to l'amour almost in the space of one dinner.Another thing to note about her is her DARK AND TROUBLED PAST which shows itself in random screaming fits that arise for no particular reason. Yeah, she's had it bad... But flying off the handle at the slightest indiscretion didn't endear her to me one bit. So, you have the creepy stalker teacher who's OH SO WILD & WACKY on one hand, and the unstable deaf girl who takes offense at virtually everything on the other. Am I supposed to root for these irritating boors? No dice.I'll say one thing for them, though... They TRULY belong together. 5/10

"Children of a Lesser God" reveals a little from its title and the word 'God' is quite misleading. So there are chances that Randa Haines' film doesn't meet your expectations, and I mean that in a positive way. I, myself, didn't know exactly what the film was about; it could be as much about a priest, or a missionary working in an orphan, but the story surprised me, in a very pleasant way.For all I knew, the film starred William Hurt and his then-girlfriend, the actress Marlee Matlin. As a good movie geek, I knew she won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, but it didn't leave many indications about the role she played, except the most crucial one: being a deaf actress, she could only play a character suffering from this handicap. Given that, while I was watching the opening sequence, William Hurt as James Leeds, a newly hired speech teacher for the deaf and his first class, I could see coming the inspirational film about the teacher with unconventional methods. Leeds was teaching a group of young teenagers not to rely too much on signing, but instead to learn about lip-reading and the pronunciation of basic sounds in order to face some real-life situations. Some of them are very receptive and seem to learn quickly, maybe too quickly, but in a way, it states that there are various degrees of deafness, there are two other pupils suffering from severer cases who don't participate.Later, Leeds encounters Sarah Norman, a young woman who preferred to stay at the school. She was there since the age of seven, when her parents put her, thinking she was retarded. Sarah is not just beautiful, looking at the way she signs; it's obvious that she has quite a temper, a personality that doesn't leave Leeds indifferent. He'll learn that she never talked and doesn't intend to. At that moment, we're left with the perfect ingredients of a teacher movie and the story of someone who overcomes a handicap to face the adversity of life and all that stuff. Leeds would teach Sarah to speak, to communicate like the other pupils. She refuses, he insists, but when she refuses again, he gives up, and that's a clever twist. The film uses predictable material but magnificently transcends it by delivering something deeper and more emotionally challenging. Leeds is not interested in Sarah because he wants to help her, but because he is in love with her, and "Children of a Lesser God" unveils its core: it's a romance, and quite a beautiful one. Yet the film never exploits the romance to ignore Sarah's deafness, which would be unrealistic but also impossible because the sign language is omnipresent. However, it can be debated whether it's fitting or realistic that Leeds translates into words everything she says. The script provides a reasonable answer during a restaurant sequence when Leeds says he likes to hear himself talk. I take it as a satisfying answer because I can believe a man who'd deal with deaf people on a daily basis would love to inhabit his place with his own voice, it might also reveal a sort of egoistical side behind his altruistic nature, but I think it fits the character, slightly pompous at times. But I also accept the criticism about the film being sometimes too noisy for a story about the deaf, while it could have been an opportunity to plunge in this world of silence. The film can be criticized for only adapting usual romantic situations to one handicap, but that criticism, in my opinion, is invalidated by the basis of Leeds and Sarah's relationship.Yes, the film was more about Leeds helping Sarah to penetrate his world, while Sarah's anger and torment, and this was magnificently portrayed by Marlee Matlin, was to convince people, much more the man she loves, to stop seeing her as a case to study or someone to help. As long as she's perceived as a deaf woman, she stops being herself in the sense that she's only seen through the perceptions of other people, not her perception. But what I love about Leeds' character is the way he reacts, he's not moved by this speech, he doesn't fall into the convenient trap of sentimentality and pretend that Sarah doesn't have a handicap. In the pivotal scene, when she's invited to a reunion of deaf people, Leeds is uncomfortable, and so are we. He's not denying the positive and cathartic aspect of such reunions, but he'd never adopt silence as a referential state because he loves Sarah. On the contrary, it's because he loves her that he tells her the truth, and refuses to let her drown in her existential torment.Sarah is far from the noble victim and Leeds is not the good Samaritan either, here is a stubborn woman who refuses to play Leeds' game and here's a man who can't lie to himself, he considers deafness as a handicap for communication, for confrontation and for such trivial things as listening to music. One of his biggest goals is to make his pupils enjoy and feel the music, and his incapability to 'show the music' to Sarah betrays a huge desperation is his heart. "Children of a Lesser God" centers on a remarkable couple, full of anger and passion, challenging every single cinematic stereotype. At one crucial scene, they have an argument and suddenly, Sarah is so turned she wants to make love. The script remarkably challenges all the expectations even in the smallest details, dealing with deafness with less condescending sentimentality than other movies would.Some would say that subtitles would have been more useful than words. Maybe it would have made the climactic moment more impacting, but I guess the film could grab more audience this way, I wouldn't blame it for that, especially when it has such a thought-provoking script and profound romance to give us.