Children of a Lesser God (1986)

When was the last time there was a deaf character in a main stream Hollywood film? I can't think of another time.
Sarah (Marlee Matlin) is a young, deaf woman who seems to enjoy her simple life as a janitor at a deaf school. Idealistic teacher, James Leeds (William Hurt) comes along and first tries to get her to understand how the ability to speak could open up so many doors for her but ends up falling in love with her.
Their's is not an easy love story as Sarah hates when others expect her to learn how to speak and read lips and never bother learning sign language and she does have a point. However, the film doesn't listen, as subtitles are not used and when Sarah signs, James says out loud what she is saying. While that helps the hearing audience, I would have found subtitles more realistic.
He does try to adapt, but is bored beyond all reason at a deaf party while she does fine playing poker with the principal of the school and his friends and James does decide that she will move in with him without asking her if that's what she wants. And she gets him back, refusing to let anyone speak for her again.
She leaves him and ironically enough moves in with her mother (Piper Laurie) who does welcome her with open arms, which is an about face from earlier in the film. She did have some resentment toward her daughter as Sarah is the reason for her divorce but at least she's moved on from that.
Now, it ends happily, with James and Sarah getting back together and agreeing to compromise, though you never see the compromise.
Sarah is a strong character but her stubborness almost destroys her. She does have a point, it isn't acceptable for her to cater to the world but she also shouldn't expect the world to cater to her.
My main problem with the film, other than lack of subtitles, is one of the silent students in James's speech class who doesn't seem to read lips or wish to speak and his story is never solved and left incomplete.
And the score and sound effects are haunting at the end of the film, but given the subject matter, inappropriate. That being said, it was a great love story, realistically done and the performances make the film something special. Grade: B+