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Making Sense of Change
Hear and Now shown at the Coolidge Corner Theater
Hear and Now is as touching a documentary as they come. Made by Emmy® winner Irene Taylor Brodsky, the film follows the lives of Brodsky’s parents, both deaf, as they traverse the process of cochlear implant surgery. Touching and poignant, the film explores the love between two people, and what can happen to a lifetime of similitude when a step toward difference is made. Brodsky handles the subject matter deftly–choosing wisely to follow the painstaking process of gaining the ability to hear.
Paul and Sally Taylor (the couple at hand) friends since they were children attending a school for the deaf together have been married for over five decades. Brodsky paints theirs as a happy marriage, the sort of idyllic relationship that most people only ever dream of. Now at the sunset of their lives, they have decided to undergo cochlear implant surgery, a relatively new procedure that will allow them to reverse their disabilities. The surgery itself is shown in unflinching detail, and the immensity of the decision–and process itself–is aptly demonstrated. Is the pain and suffering that comes with such a procedure worth the outcome? And what does it say about the value of ones life and life–limitation of their disability that such a procedure would be necessary?
But it is what happens after the surgery is what really makes Hear and Now. As the weeks progress, the effect of the implant proves to be different for Paul and Sally. While Sally can hear music and slight sounds, Sally is still dependant upon vibrations. And the marriage one thought perfect begins to show signs of distress as the effects of the surgery take their toll of the individuals—and their relationship. As Bordsky’s asks in the film, “They’ve been daydreaming about sound their whole lives. But what if hearing … disappoints us all?”
Hear and Now plays at The Coolidge Corner Theater on November 3 at 7:00 pm. For ticket and further information, visit www.coolidge.org.