The Silent Child

I watched it and thought what a lot of tosh. Both my GCs attended a nursery where they were taught basic signing before they could talk. It's very trendy and middle class. The family were unbelievable. The girl riding her bike along country lanes without a helmet was very picturesque but unlikely. No one hands their child over to someone without proper supervision like that. The little girl was probably the best actor in the whole thing.

Sorry, should have added 'in this group' to my last sentence.

I watched it and felt rather sorry for the mother - it seemed that she had had no effective help with the child. Her husband said nastily that his wife was never in a good mood, and her MIL, whom she ferried about to the hospital, told the social worker that the child was illegitimate, the result of an affair during the marriage, and that she (the MIL) had advised her son to divorce her! What a thing to say to a complete stranger, the nasty old so-and-so. No wonder the mother couldn't cope. Also, the social worker was young and pretty and had the key to helping the child. Beautifully acted and lovely to look at. I notice that in the film 'Mandy' the message is that deaf children should be taught to speak rather than sign - in this film the message was the opposite. Shows how things have changed. Are there any experts in the education of deaf children out there, or parents or grandparents of deaf children?

As it was shown again this weekend I got DD,to watch it. We agreed it was like deciding that GS1's autism meant he was broken and we'd just leave it to the school to keep him quiet. She couldn't believe anyone would turn down sign language. We used it with both her babies because it makes it so easy to communicate,with them when they are too young to talk.

That little girl acted it brilliantly very touching very believable and very very sad I wanted to shake the mother too

I've just watched it and agree luckygirl

Oh I loved it and cried too. I thought the actor playing the part of the support worker was amazing. I remember we had a couple living further down our street, when I was growing up, who were deaf and spoke with 'strange' voices.
My mother became quite deaf in old age and used to say how it cut her off from society.

It was very interesting and excellently acted by the little girl, herself deaf.

I am governor (with responsibility for special needs) at a primary school and I am absolutely clear that we would have moved heaven and earth to make sure a child like this had all she needed to thrive, learn and be happy, so I found the stats at the end hard to believe, as I have no reason to suppose that other schools would not do the same - and they have OfSted breathing down their necks on every aspect of the school, including special needs. They simply would not get away with not having proper help in place for a child like this.

We have a child with very severe needs and everything is done to help her; including giving the other pupils information about her needs and also advice on how to communicate with her.

The director clearly had a message about sign language that he wanted to convey - it is, however, somewhat controversial, as their are advantages and disadvantages and the debate over sign language versus lip-reading has been raging for decades. I think he picked his stats to make his point.

I felt that the parents (the mother in particular) were depicted in an exaggerated way to make a point and were not true to life at all.

I am not at all sure it deserved its Oscar - but the little actress most certainly did!

I, too loved this. I also wanted to give the mother [ and father ] a good shake!

My DM had hearing problems and she used to say that people, in general, would fall over themselves to be helpful to a blind person, but would be very intolerant of a deaf person - getting irritated because they needed to have things repeated. BTW that didn’t mean that she begrudged the blind person receiving attention!!!

She also commented on how isolating it could be because sometimes she felt that she was being a nuisance, so would be in a group of people but not participate.

It’s also pretty tiring having to struggle to hear and process what little you can piece together of a onversation.

Having said that, she had some very good and understanding friends.

I wanted to shake that mother too, and yell at her. But her manner in dealing with her daughter definitely brought home to the audience the total isolation felt by a deaf child, making this such a powerful short film.
The ending was so upsetting, and the information given at the end about the shocking lack of support for deaf children in schools angered me beyond measure. I do so hope the film will go a long way to addressing this.

I watched too, it packed a powerful punch in only 20 minutes. Deafness especially from birth brings many difficulties. Particularly social isolation. I worked with a deaf woman years ago and noticed the only time she was spoken to by others was in relation to work so I made it my business to ask how she was, what she had done Over the weekend, general chat. Yes it was awkward at times as her speech was hard to understand, but though I tried to encourage coworkers to try they didn’t bother. Over 40 years ago now but I still remember Margaret.it must have been so hard fir her.

Exactly squiffy !

I was "telling" the mum, don't just say 'bye' behind the childs back as you leave the room, go and face her and say it.

What a powerful message in such a brilliantly conceived short film. It tugged the heartstrings and had a real punch at the end. Gratifying that it has received the wider publicity afforded by the Oscar win. Excellent!

Such a lot squeezed into 20 minutes and so brilliantly too!
Mother doesn't always know best....

I was so angry with the mother, Libby was beautifully portrayed. A 20 minute film which managed to convey so much. The Oscar was well deserved.

It was so so sad and it was an uncomfortable ending. It’s the sort of thing you watch and it stays with you. It managed to capture all those complex relationships between the adults as well as giving us an insight into the world of the deaf child and all in twenty minutes. It deserved it’s Oscar.

I haven't watched it but the reviews immediately made me think of that old b&w film Mandy with John Mills. Is it similar?

Yes Nina - the mother!! I wondered whether she was in denial? Her manic life was her way of not having to deal with her daughter directly, thus not properly acknowledging that there was an issue. I have to confess that I just wanted to pin her down and make her face her daughter and at least try to communicate with her properly.

Yes, I watched it.
I was annoyed with the mother character and am sad to think that this actually happens.