Having seen Joseph Mawle in several totally different roles, JenBen Starke, Gerald in 'Women in Love' and most recently the heavy villain Jebediah Shine in 'Ripper Street', when I heard of this film I watched it out of curiosity as my hearing began to deteriorate steadily from my teens. Joseph Mawle did an excellent job as the profoundly deaf young man, and there were so many little things they got right. When people knocked on the door or called his name, he ignored them because he could not hear, until they got his attention by touching him. All my life I have been called standoffish and rude, even being marked down on performance reviews because they think I ignore greetings like 'good morning'. Hearing loss rarely means total loss of sound, but loss of certain frequencies. I do not hear telephones or doorbells, or even the emergency vehicles behind me in traffic, and music now sounds distorted as if half the orchestra has downed their instruments and gone home. I have tried to explain that while I hear sound, it is as if people are speaking in a foreign language - I cannot understand the words. After a while, friends fell away as they tired of repeating things or not getting my attention. I have had to learn to enjoy my own company. This film really caught the isolation of the deaf. When someone is blind or physically disabled, people allow for them, but a deaf person looks quite normal.
For a while watching the film, I thought there was something wrong with my sound system as the sound kept going faint and mumbled, with buzzing on the soundtrack, then I realised that what we were hearing was what the deaf characters heard, and being hearing impaired myself, that is how I hear sound when I don't have hearing aids or headphones. Hearing aids can help, but do not give normal hearing.
My only gripe is the use of flashbacks, which I find confusing unless they are in monochrome. Otherwise, this was an excellent film which might help people understand what we face.
For a while watching the film, I thought there was something wrong with my sound system as the sound kept going faint and mumbled, with buzzing on the soundtrack, then I realised that what we were hearing was what the deaf characters heard, and being hearing impaired myself, that is how I hear sound when I don't have hearing aids or headphones. Hearing aids can help, but do not give normal hearing.
My only gripe is the use of flashbacks, which I find confusing unless they are in monochrome. Otherwise, this was an excellent film which might help people understand what we face.