AppleTV: Review of CODA: Defining Deaf Dynamics

August 15, 2021

The title "CODA" is an acronym that stood for "Child of Deaf Adults." These children faced a special set of challenges in their lives because of a sense of responsibility expected of them to help their parents in their daily living. This perception would usually lead these children to deny their own dreams and aspirations in order to stay and be useful to the family. This coming-of-age, comedy-drama and part-musical film by writer-director Sian Heder was based on French film "La Famille Bélier" (2014), inspired by German film "Beyond Silence" (1996).

Frank and Jackie Rossi were born deaf and only communicated by sign language. They had two children: Leo was also culturally deaf like them, and Ruby who had normal hearing. Ruby had always taken on the role as the family's interpreter for their fishing business. However, in senior high, Ruby decided to join the choir to get closer to her crush Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). When he heard Ruby's beautiful singing voice, the choir teacher Bernardo Villalobos (Eugenio Derbez) convinced her to try out for the Berklee College of Music.  

19 year-old film, television and theater actress Emilia Jones was in perfect voice and form in the lead role of Ruby. She was able to portray the full the gamut of complex emotions this troubled character, trying to balance her loyalty and commitment to her family and the rare opportunity for her to achieve her dream of becoming a singer. Add to that the pressures of a teenager from a blue-collar, disabled family in high school, with an uncertain budding romance to boot. Jones' singing voice was effortlessly pleasing as it was powerful.

It was remarkable that all the deaf characters in the Rossi family were all portrayed by deaf actors: Oscar winner Marlee Matlin as the mother Jackie; Troy Kotsur as the father Frank and Daniel Durant as the brother Leo. Their participation gave a sense of authenticity in this film's portrayal of the family and social life of culturally deaf people and the challenges they faced while dealing with their hearing neighbors. All three of them deserve to be cited for awards, especially Kotsur with his rawness of his performance with a healthy dose of humor. 

Heder effectively shared the difficulties experienced by being the only deaf family in a hearing community. As fishermen, Frank and Leo who challenged the local fishing board and their exorbitant fees, and got into trouble with inspectors and the coast guard as a result of their disability. This was actually the more interesting aspect of the film for me, but these were ultimately just glossed over in favor of Ruby's more predictable story arc. However, the final 15 minutes or so contained the film's most heartwarming moments as our parting gift. 7/10.