Beyond Silence
Daniel J. Moore Sr.
Daniela Ioannides
Video Report #1
Objective
Lara is the daughter of Martin and Kai, a couple whom are both deaf and rely heavily on their hearing daughter to navigate through their daily lives. She translates television for her mother and even translates at her own parent- teacher conference (quite favorably to herself). When her little sister Marie is born, the responsibility of communicating spoken word falls into Lara's lap as well. With her constant efforts to link the worlds of the hearing and the deaf, she falls behind classmates in her reading skills which leads to constant taunting from her peers. Although being very level headed and mature beyond her years, Lara finds mischief throughout her young life. The turning point in the movie comes on a Christmas morning when Lara receives a clarinet from her Aunt Clarissa who has much underlying friction with her brother Martin, Lara's father. Music has always been an issue with Martin due to the pain it caused him in his childhood as he could not participate yet Clarissa excelled in this area. Martin is close minded about the topic due to the rejection from his own family as well as his frustration with his lack of hearing. Lara ends up excelling at music with the support of her music teacher, mother and Aunt Clarissa. The film now seamlessly fast forwards ten years. Lara is now eighteen, a lovely young lady, and a talented clarinetist. Lara is encouraged by her music teacher and Clarissa to seek admission to the prestigious music academy in Berlin, 300 miles from home. To pass the entrance exam, she will need to practice intensively throughout the summer and Clarissa invites her to stay with her and her husband in Berlin. For Martin, he and his wife will have to make do without their best “translator” (though Marie has developed some of the same capacity). It feels to Martin like Clarissa is trying to steal his daughter from him, and his daughter’s interests, music
Daniela Ioannides
Video Report #1
Objective
Lara is the daughter of Martin and Kai, a couple whom are both deaf and rely heavily on their hearing daughter to navigate through their daily lives. She translates television for her mother and even translates at her own parent- teacher conference (quite favorably to herself). When her little sister Marie is born, the responsibility of communicating spoken word falls into Lara's lap as well. With her constant efforts to link the worlds of the hearing and the deaf, she falls behind classmates in her reading skills which leads to constant taunting from her peers. Although being very level headed and mature beyond her years, Lara finds mischief throughout her young life. The turning point in the movie comes on a Christmas morning when Lara receives a clarinet from her Aunt Clarissa who has much underlying friction with her brother Martin, Lara's father. Music has always been an issue with Martin due to the pain it caused him in his childhood as he could not participate yet Clarissa excelled in this area. Martin is close minded about the topic due to the rejection from his own family as well as his frustration with his lack of hearing. Lara ends up excelling at music with the support of her music teacher, mother and Aunt Clarissa. The film now seamlessly fast forwards ten years. Lara is now eighteen, a lovely young lady, and a talented clarinetist. Lara is encouraged by her music teacher and Clarissa to seek admission to the prestigious music academy in Berlin, 300 miles from home. To pass the entrance exam, she will need to practice intensively throughout the summer and Clarissa invites her to stay with her and her husband in Berlin. For Martin, he and his wife will have to make do without their best “translator” (though Marie has developed some of the same capacity). It feels to Martin like Clarissa is trying to steal his daughter from him, and his daughter’s interests, music