CODA

I watched it after five years of it's release. Written and directed by a fresher Sîan Heder, 'CODA' is an independent movie that premiered at the 1921 Sundance Festival and won all three Oscar nominations in 2021 (March 2022) for the Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Film Adapted from a Foreign Language (French). CODA is abbreviation for Child of Deaf Adults. The word coda means the satisfying conclusion of a song or performance.

Frank Rossi (Troy Kotsur) and Jackie (Marlee Matlin) are deaf. They have two children. Leo (Daniel Durant) is the older one is already an adult. Ruby (Emilia Jones), 17, is a senior in school. Ruby is the only hearing person in a family of four. She has been fishing with her parents and brother since she was young. She sets the alarm at 3 a.m. and has to wake up the others. She helps the family on the boat until 8 a.m. before rushing to school. When she gets home from school, she sells the fish they caught that day at the fishing harbor. She even does things that are forbidden by American law for minors. She even had to interpret her father's sexual condition from sign language to English for the doctor.

She can sing as loudly as she wants; she can turn up the radio: no one will stop her. Because no one hears anything in her house. Compared to her freedom, her lack of freedom is greater. The other three are completely unaware of the sounds they themselves make. They are not aware of sounds such as the sounds in the kitchen, the sounds made when doing household chores, and the sound of farting, and even the sounds made during sexual intimacy. Specifically Frank is very uninhibited, has little speech etiquettes, either because he hasn't learned it through participating in conversations with others or because of the uniqueness of the deaf culture.

Ruby is mostly a loner at school. Except for Amy, everyone else is one gang. They isolate her in a mean way and bully her!

In the land of those who can hear and are vocal, she is embarrassed at every instance. However, she loves her family, who are depended on her voice for almost everything. Although there's some parental selfishness in her parents, their deafness creates much uninhibited communication between them! The bond between the four is tremendous. The love evaporates everything else.

The Choir that she takes up (also because of her crush Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) as an elective at school changes everything. Her music teacher Bernardo (Eugenio Derbez) prepares her for an audition at Berklee College, Boston.

How can she leave her family? If she leaves her family, without her they would be crippled!

Telling the story beyond this would be a spoiler. I haven't seen a movie in the last few years that has portrayed the traditional family in such a positive light. I haven't seen a movie like this that looks at love from both sides, or a movie with such a high level of acting in recent times. CODA is a formulaic coming-of-age-family drama. There are many movies that are seen through the eyes of the Alpha generation. But this one seems to be trying to look at it from both sides: through the eyes of both Generation X and Generation Alpha. That's its beauty.

The biggest difference is that real-life deaf persons play the three deaf characters in the movie.

I have seen many comments criticizing the general perception of disability as a "burden" in films. I have often felt that many reviewers and commenters don't understand their subject matter. The three differently abled people in the movie have a confidence level that can beat anyone without disabilities. It is without Ruby's help that they shake off their shackles of 'exploited worker' status and start their own businesses, earning the respect of others.

As most people think, CODA is not a movie that portrays the limitations of the disabled. CODA is a movie that depicts the limitations of everyone, who stand on either side of a generation who are disabled in themselves. That is why it is a movie that brings tears to our eyes!