Review
CODA breaks new ground for disability equality on screen. By Richard Rieser CODA is a mainstream film in which the Deaf characters are played by Deaf actors, and it is funny, emotional, excellent, informative and entertaining. With a good portion of the dialogue in American Sign Language (with subtitles), it strikes a blow for Deaf and Disability equality. CODA, an acronym of ‘child of deaf adults’, is written and directed by Sian Heder, and stars Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi, a young girl who is the only hearing member of a Deaf family. Her parents—Frank, played by Troy Kotsur, and Jackie, played by Marlee Matlin—and older brother, Leo, played by Daniel Durant, are all culturally Deaf. The parents lean on Ruby, their only hearing family member, as they navigate the hearing world; she interprets everything from doctors’ appointments to business deals. Over the course of the movie, Ruby must decide between staying to help her parents and the dream of attending college on a music scholarship. Discrimination is shown as part of their lives. The story is quite staid, but the interactions of the four leads and the many sub plots are beautiful. Emilia Jones had to learn American Sign Language and to sing to play the part so convincingly. Apart from the three Deaf actors, there were two Deaf ASL experts working on the film to develop the sign language used.
26
