The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) of America just voted CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) as their 'Best Picture' this year, as the ensemble cast of the movie won the Best Cast in a Motion Picture award for 2022.
The main characters in the movie are deaf and with this win, this certainly puts a lot of attention in casting deaf characters in more movies in the future - or so I hope. Or, it could also bring more movies on the deaf experience to a more mainstream audience.
The cast is led by Marlee Matlin, the first deaf actor to win an Oscar Best Actress in 1986 for Children of a Lesser God. Incidentally, her castmate, Troy Kotsur won the Male Actor in a Supporting Role award this year. Not a surprise, as the movie's best funny lines are delivered by his character.
The movie has a simple story. It actually reminds me of that little gem of a movie 'Little Miss Sunshine' years ago. Both movies have a female protagonist who have have to fight biases against them in order to achieve their dreams.
Here in CODA, the lead female character, played beautifully by Emilia Jones, is on the crossroads of her life - having to make that difficult decision of staying with her family and be their 'interpreter' or go and pursue her dreams of becoming a great singer. I will leave that unanswered as I strongly urge you to watch this movie.
This is actually the perfect movie for all of you who feel lost during the pandemic. The movie was obviously shot pre-pandemic and is not set during the pandemic, but its message of hope and hanging in there could easily inspire many of its viewers to be brave - like the CODA girl - and persevere to achieve their dreams.
The dilemma presented to Emilia is not easy, since family is very important to her values, but as I said, she is not going to be around them forever, and it is always ok to ask for outside help - maybe an outside interpreter who can do what Emilia's character can do.
The solution is not rocket science. However, the film works because of the rich representation of the deaf experience to us audiences who are not deaf. This movie also reminds me of last year's 'The Sound of Metal', as both have lead characters who are deaf.
Go and catch the movie if you still can. You can end up with tears of joy as you leave the theater.
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