Sweet Nothings in My Ear

Glitter Graphics

First of all, I would like to say that I wasn't as disappointed with the movie as much as I was with Andy in C Minor (Cold Case episode) and Silencer (Law and Order episode), but (yes, there's a but) there were some minor discrepencies.

First, I would be po'd if my husband went ahead with an appointment without telling me. So score one here.

I wondered what was the etiology of Laura's deafness, Adam's deafness? What caused it? I guess it wasn't that important, but "inquiring minds wanna know." At least this mind did.

When a witness came to the stand, she had a CI and she also had her child implanted. She could speak well and hear well. It's not always the case. Sometimes a CI recipient has to work on listening skills and have auditory lessons to speak well and listen for sounds. Some CI users can't use the phone or only hear environmental sounds, but cannot understand speech.

Usually in a courtroom hearing, lawyers will get professionals on the stand. Why wasn't an audiologist and/or an ENT put on the witness stand? They could have put their professional expertise and shared statistics and successes of implantation.

Since Adam had hearing and was speaking before he lost his hearing, he was a good candidate for a CI. That was true. If a child is born deaf and is implanted asap (at least before the age of 5), the success rate is higher. The child can develop speech better.

Dan, the hearing father, was saying that he did some homework on CIs and that CIs have 16 electrodes. There was an omission: Advanced Bionics has 16 electrodes, but there's another brand, Cochlear Nucleus Freedom, that has 22 electrodes. And Med El has 24. Either Hollywood was keeping it simple or Advanced Bionics was a sponsor. (Much like what brand of soda or even the car that was used by an actor/actress depends on the sponsor of a show. A product would be featured somehow, although I have to agree that the name was never mentioned.)

Deaf Pride and Deaf Culture was explained pretty well. I know enough that they prefer to sign and not use their voice. And that they are against any hearing assistive device, such as hearing aids and CIs, but welcome other technology that enhances their lives in other ways (like the TTY and/or video phones, special alarms that wake them/tells them the doorbell or phone is ringing and even tells them when a baby is crying.)

It is a hard decision. The Deaf mother was arguing with the father along the lines of, "What if he comes to me and asks, what's wrong with me? Wasn't being deaf okay enough?"

And the father counters that with, "What if he comes to me and says, why didn't you get me another chance to get my hearing back?"

There were arguments about how D/deaf people don't get high paying jobs. They don't get to have advancements like hearing people do. Some of that is true, but not always. Some are successful. Just like some hearing people, some don't get advanced education and have limitations to what they can do. Some don't get high paying jobs, either.

The poor kid was stuck in the middle of it. I thought about why he didn't say anything about wanting a CI or not wanting a CI. Then again, the show was more about the parents and the conflicts they were facing.

And as to the way the show ended by leaving us hanging...and wondering what was the outcome, again, the focus was on the parents, not the child.

All in all, from a one to five star rating, I'll give it a ****.

Why? The actors were convincing. Deaf Pride and Deaf culture were explained-just enough for a Hollywood movie. What else can you expect when it has to be explained in a two-hour time limit?

Share your views.