CODA: Child of Deaf Adult
This is original content. The story of a New England fishing family where the mother, father and older brother are deaf and only the daughter is hearing. Ruby is a high school senior faced with the decision to pursue her dreams or embrace the life of a CODA…

Story: I love that we haven’t seen a story like this before. It’s proof that creativity is not dead! The writer has done a good job of showing empathy from both perspectives; hearing and deaf. So much so, the film somewhat normalized deaf people. Let me explain…

There were scenes where the deaf characters reacted to things as if being deaf was status quo… like hearing people often react as if hearing is status quo. Initially, I had difficulty with that, but when you stop and think about it, the reactions are making a point. There is no status quo. This is where tolerance and diversity have to take over – hearing or deaf.

And while I think the central theme of CODA is meant to be a young girl with a dream to pursue, I hope the writer was intentional in creating awareness of the diversity theme.

Performances: Emilia Jones as Ruby is clearly the central performance. There is a well defined push and pull where her character lives and she portrays it with sure accuracy. The emotion is there. But there is comedy too…

Many of the other performances are unique, which also speaks to the diversity theme, but this is a story that turns on the whole as opposed to individual performances. If there was an award for ensemble cast, this would be their Oscar.

Performance of note: The father being a father…

Visual: This is not a visual movie. There is nothing important about the look of this film, the value again is in the themes represented and expressed through the story.

Rating: B+. Family dynamics aside, deaf families appear to function – or dysfunction – like every other family. It’s nice to see that story. Everyone should see this story.

In the need to broaden your horizons on people who are different than you, see this film…