I recently watched two powerful documentary films on HBO that should be required viewing by all audiologists. Both films are directed and produced by Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker, Irene Taylor Brodsky, who finds the story and content of these two films right in her own home. Here and Now (2007) is the story of her 65-year-old deaf parents undergoing cochlear implantation, while Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements (2019) follows her son, Jonas, who has progressive hearing loss and receives his first cochlear implant at age 4 and a second one at age 8. These two 90-minute films present an extraordinary view of life in an inter-generation family who share the personal life problems of deafness.
At this point, I should disclose that I was raised by my deaf grandparents and our main means of communicating was through American Sign Language (ASL). Watching these two documentary films took me right back into my childhood with incredible realism. The scenes and narrative were enthralling and yet sometimes wrenching with emotional and personal family interactions. The deaf speech patterns, facial expressions and signed communications observed in these films are amazingly similar to conversations held in my home by my grandparents many years ago.
To be clear, these two movies are about much more than deafness. They include themes of child development, Beethoven’s life and his music, and observations of aging parents. However, as an audiologist I could not help but be especially attentive to the sequences on early deaf education, scenes of sound-room testing and cochlear implant tuning, as well as the many aspects of deafness represented in the stories. As a documentary film maker, Irene Taylor Brodsky handles the whole job as film director, producer, writer, cinematographer and editor. She recognizes that the films will help demystify deafness and show that deaf people can enjoy enriched lives full of love and promise. She wants audiences to appreciate a newfound understanding of deafness and all that it encompasses.
Hear and Now, is a deeply personal memoir of filmmaker Brodsky’s congenitally deaf parents who, at age 65, decide to get cochlear implants. As experience and research has shown, this cohort of long-term deafened adults are not generally good candidates for cochlear implants. Nonetheless, parents Paul and Sally Taylor decide together that they have been without sound long enough and the opportunity to hear again is so enticing that they both undergo cochlear implant surgery. Director Brodsky is on hand with her cameras throughout to document the complex thought processes and intimate discussions between her parents that motivates them eagerly to the surgical implant. Their curiosity about sound and their observations about their living in total silence for so long, brings up personal revelations that will be of interest to all professionals who deal with deaf patients. As a side comment, it turns out that Paul Taylor is an engineer and the inventor-developer of the TTY system used successfully by the deaf for many years in place of telephone communication. At the time of this writing in 2020, audiologists will recognize that the cochlear implant hardware shown in Hear and Now is dated from 2007, although the process itself is similar to what we do today.
I want to point out that Hear and Now is not just another surgery and turn-on demonstration for cochlear implants. Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky shows how motivated her parents are for the opportunity to hear music, hear their children’s’ voices, talk on the phone and hear the sounds of the environment. Her film shows how the implant operation transforms her parents, affects their relationship with each other, and the deaf world they might leave behind. Viewers will hear the traditional “deaf speech” from her parents that we seldom hear in today’s modern world. In Brodsky’s words, “…this is a story of two people taking a journey from silence to sound. The question is, what will they make of it, and what might they gain — or lose – forever?” Hear and Now was recognized with the Audience Award at its 2007 Sundance Film Festival premiere. The film also won a Peabody Award, debuted on HBO, and has since been shown around the world to wide spread audiences.
When Jonas is the first child born to the Brodsky household in 2006, new mom Irene Taylor Brodsky takes to her cameras to document Jason’s development. Archival family videos show the normal development in auditory response and speech and language of Jonas through about age 2. However, the Brodsky’s begin to suspect hearing loss as Jonas’s speech and language suddenly begin to decrease. By the age of 4, Jonas is totally deaf, perhaps inherited from his grandmother, and receives his first cochlear implant. By now, Brodsky is likely beginning to think of a new documentary as a follow-up to Hear and Now.
Jonas is not only among the cutest of children, he is a gifted pediatric cochlear implant recipient with amazing vocabulary, speech and language abilities. Jonas yearns to play the piano, and the new documentary follows his development and especially his obsession to master playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” The film story also includes passages from Paul and Sally Taylor’s as they age and their continued experiences with their cochlear implants. The film’s narrative manages to include (through animations) the story of Beethoven’s deafness. Thus, the movie, intertwines the story of Jason, his deaf grandparents and Beethoven, hence the movie title, Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements. It is abundantly clear that Jonas’s auditory fluency separates him from his deaf grandparents, reflecting the influence of technology and changes in deaf education over three generations.
Again, viewers should be aware that this film is not just about cochlear implants. Rather it is an intimate and deep reaching look at an intergeneration family with deafness. While we watch Jonas struggle with playing “Moonlight Sonata,” we also watch Paul and Sally Taylor deal with their cochlear implants. We see the relationship between Jonas and his grandparents and recognize the width of difference in their educational backgrounds. Paul and Sally finally accept the fact that deafness is their fate even as they watch Jonas’s development with the help of his bilateral cochlear implants.
Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and received the Audience Documentary Award. It was released in the fall of 2019, initially shown in December on HBO and is currently “the buzz” in the area of documentary films. Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements is being shown in selected theaters around the country and can now also be found on Amazon Prime, iTunes, You Tube, and Google Play. A captioned version is available for viewing by deaf and hearing-impaired audiences. Several interesting and revealing live interviews with Irene Taylor Brodsky can be found on You Tube.
I’m certainly no movie critic but I have to give these two films ‘thumbs up’ and high ratings for their honesty and clarity of message. Each is well-worth viewing. Too often, audiologists see patients in a clinical setting without fully understanding the day-to-day needs, frustrations, and successes experienced by deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. Audiologists and students of audiology, as well as those persons involved with American Sign Language (ASL), and families with deaf children will benefit greatly from viewing real-life deaf persons interacting and conducting their daily lives.
So, if you’ve got a free night at home, or a class to teach in aural rehabilitation, teaching ASL, or to need give a talk to your local HLAA group, these films are for you!! I guarantee that what you see in these two movies will stay with you and not be easily forgotten – and in fact, the images and stories will be ever useful to you in your professional and personal relationships with deaf people. You gotta’ watch these films!
