Films involving Deaf

Deaf: Major Films

Title	Bridge to Silence (1989) (TV Film)
Alternative/Original Title
Disability	Deaf
Country	USA
Length	100
Genre	Drama
Rating	3
Director	Karen Arthur
Cast	Lee Remick Marlee Matlin Michael O'Keefe Josef Sommer Phyllis Frelich
Notes	A deaf woman's husband is killed in an accident which leaves her with a custody battle for her children. He was a teacher at Gaullaird University. While she, Peggy, lays injured in hospital her parents visit. Her father can finger spell but her mother can do nothing but talk. Her mother from whom she has been estranged wants to take her daughter, Lisa. And Lisa goes to live with parents while mother in hospital. Leaving hospital Peggy cuts herself off from family and friends. Eventually she goes to see her daughter but smothers her in embrace and Lisa runs off to her grandmother. Peggy gets involved with Actors Theater of the Deaf. After Lisa is briefly taken ill granma wants guardianship. Fortunately her husband is not of the same mind as his wife and he is the driving force in getting mother and daughter back together. It's not entirely clear (besides depression and lack of confidence) why Peggy doesn't just go and collect her daughter. This she eventually does. It is revealed that Peggy learned to speak for her mother but her mother never learned to sign for her. Her mother resented her being deaf which led to a split between them. In a romantic intrusion the man who was her husband's best friend is in love with Peggy. At the end mum goes to see her in play (The Glass Menagerie) and they are reconciled. At least one other actess, Phyllis French, is deaf. The National Theatre of the Deaf have a web site at: http://www.ntd.org

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