Thinking she has been shunned by the world, Sarah Norman (Marlee Matlin), though very smart, takes to being a janitor at a school for deaf children.
James Leeds (William Hurt) starts a new job at the same deaf school, helping hard of hearing children to speak better, as they couldn't before. This is where he meets Sarah.
At first, Sarah wants nothing to do with him, but James presses on, trying to help her to speak. She doesn't want to speak, nor does she want to let anyone into her life, especially James, whom she thinks only wants to have sex with her.
Slowly, over the days to come, James wins her over. However, James still wants her to turn his ways. He wants her to lip read; he wants her to be able to speak. Sarah doesn't accept this. Even though both people love each other, Sarah won't go farther untill James admits that Sarah is a person too, and has her own voice and feelings. Can James actually take a chunk out of his ego long enough to win over the woman he loves?
I'll be the first to admit that I don't know enough about the deaf. I never once thought that deaf people were "stupid," however I have wondered about people like Helen Keller, among others. How do they manage? It must take great personal strength to do what they do. Disabled people are big part of our society and are often shunned because they are different.
Children of a Lesser God shows these types of people in a different light. They can do things non-disabled people can. Anything we can do, they can do just as well. It also shows us that most parents of disabled children care a great deal about them. To some extent this is true, but then there are many that wish that these "mistakes" were never born (they could just care less). This is shown in the film by Sarah's mother and the mentioning of her father. I don't subscribe to this idiotic ideology. If it was my child, I most certainly would give a damn.
In some scenes they could have ommitted any sound, and simply had only subtitles. It might have made the picture more poignant.
We know what is going to happen at the end of the picture, after all it is a romance picture. They all end the same. It is how we get to that end point that makes up the heartwarming story. Never does the story slow, or get tiresome; never do we want to move on in certain scenes; we do want to get to the end and see what happens, but then we already know what's going to happen. There is no need to hurry through the film.
Plot: 
This is just another romance film; we know what is going to happen. However, there is a twist. And it is this "twist" that makes the plot so good.
Visual Effects: 
There are no visual effects aside from OK cinematography. This is made up by the moving plot.
Sound:
The score was decent, however this causes the rating to loose points. There are times, in certain scenes, that no sound at all would have prooved beneficial.
One thing to note is that the producers included that horrible "boomarang" song, which is a really bad song.
Character Development:
We can difinatly see tension between James and Sarah early on. This, however, mellows over the course of the film, untill they fall in love.
Atmosphere:
The film is easy to get into, but may make some people uncomfortable.
Realism:
Warren’s Rating:
Movies it was nominated with for Best Picture:
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); The Mission, (1986); *Platoon, (1986); A Room With a View, (1985)
8.43/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
08-06-04
Age at win: 21
Nominated for: Best Actrees in a Leading Role, Sarah Norman, Children of a Lesser God
Nomination: 1/1 (acting), 1/1 (total); Win: Only
For being in her first film and to win the Oscar must have made Marlee very happy. Not only did she give us a performance full of pure emotion, but she also gave us her lasting respect.
It can be very hard for disabled people to find work in Hollywood, but she did it and shows us that if she can do it, anyone can. Marlee is a great role-model for children in Canada, the US, and other countries all over the world. It is people like her who give disabled people a good name!
In Children of a Lesser God, Marlee has a tremendous amount of friction with her on-creen counterpart, William Hurt. However, by the mid point of the film, this has evaporated into great chemistry. The two compliament each other very well which is rare in a performance such as this.
08-06-04
