The Silent Child

"The Silent Child" is a short film about a deaf child. The twenty minute film tries to bring awareness to the disconnect between the hearing world and the deaf world. The hearing family hires a nanny who specializes in caring for deaf children. As the film progresses, the nanny and child establish an emotional connection, which is important for the child as she is alienated from her family for the lack of understanding on both ends. As the relationship between the child and nanny grows, so does the child's ability to communicate through sign language. This connection draws jealousy from the family ultimately tearing the child away for the nanny in order for the child to be enrolled in school. In one of the final scenes, the child is seen sitting at a desk at school staring off blankly as the muffled sound of her teachers voice is directing the class for a spelling test. 

"The Silent Child" is a concern that we should all have when incorporating differently lifestyles into everyday. The film seems to have a gloomy/dark/dreary color to it. This could be due to the location of where the film was shot or perhaps the color overlay the editors chose to have. I saw this as an added effect for the scenes the deaf child was in to show how she was in a world of her own. I also saw this as the darkness the deaf world is in when it comes to having an accessible world for them in a hearing dominant world. 

The attitude/tone of the characters further proved the disregard or unwillingness the hearing family had to adjust or adapt to the needs of the child. This is reflective of the way society is set up for the deaf community. Not all resources or enough resources are available or even made know such as for those with wheelchair impairments. This short film is a call of action and awareness for a community that is largely held in silence from the real world.