9/7/2009 `Sound and Fury' -- a Battle Over Cult…

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`Sound and Fury' -- a Battle Over

Cultures
Deaf parents' child wants implant to hear
Mick LaSalle, C hronicle Staff C ritic
Wednesday, October 25, 0

SOUND AND FURY : Documentary.

Starring Heather, Peter and Nina Artinian. Directed
by Josh Aronson. (Not rated. 90 minutes. With
subtitles for the hearing impaired. At the Roxie.)

``Sound and Fury'' is a documentary with the emotional power of the very best in narrative film. It has
characters impossible to forget, moments impossible to shake and an ending that leaves the audience
both moved and rattled.

Without doubt, it's a great movie for all audiences, though the subject matter might, from the outside,
seem specialized: It deals with a new medical procedure, the cochlear implant -- which for all intents
and purposes can cure deafness -- and this procedure's effect on deaf people and their loved ones.

It should be said that the above phrase -- ``cures deafness'' -- would be considered offensive by some in
the deaf community. Deafness, they'd argue, is not a disability but an alternative way of being. They see
the cochlear implant as a threat to their culture and their language, American Sign Language.

``Sound and Fury'' is a tale of two families. Heather Artinian is a 6- year-old deaf girl, born to deaf
parents, Peter and Nina. Peter is part of the anti-implant community on Long Island, so he and his wife
are taken aback when Heather tells them she wants to get a cochlear implant.

She wants an implant so she can talk to hearing people, she says. She also wants to hear animals. She is
particularly interested in hearing a lion's roar.

The other family is made up of Chris Artinian (Peter's brother) and his wife, Mari. Chris and Mari can
hear, so when Mari gives birth to a deaf son, they immediately look in to getting the child a cochlear
implant. The doctor tells them that the earlier the child gets the procedure, the better the chance of his
developing normal speaking skills.

Most of the picture focuses on Heather and her parents, who meet with various families with children
who have had cochlear implants. Peter and Nina are, at first, receptive to the idea. Nina, however, loses
enthusiasm when she finds out that she herself is too old to benefit fully from a cochlear implant.
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9/7/2009 `Sound and Fury' -- a Battle Over Cult…

Gradually, Peter and Nina decide that Heather should not get an implant, reasoning that when Heather
gets older she can decide for herself. This is, alas, a disingenuous argument, since by the time Heather is
older, she will no longer be in a position to reap the benefits.

Much of the power of ``Sound and Fury'' derives from the star quality of Heather, who is as adorable a
6-year-old as has ever been captured onscreen. Her innocent desire to hear makes a stark contrast with
her father's blustering insecurity and her mother's quiet resentment. The film's most chilling moment
comes when Nina tries to convince her daughter that Heather herself decided not to have the implant.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

It's a tribute to ``Sound and Fury'' that Peter and Nina don't come off as villains. Their fear of losing
their child to an alien culture is understandable, and the implant is not a magic bullet. In order to hear,
a person with an implant still has to carry around a Walkman-size device.

Throughout the film, Heather's ultimate fate remains in the balance and provides much suspense. The
cochlear-implant issue pits brother against brother and mother against son, and the audience witnesses
many family arguments that, typically, descend into emotionalism and irrationality.

It's impossible to watch without wanting to jump into those arguments -- or to see ``Sound and Fury''
without still wanting to talk about it hours later. ..

E-mail Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com.

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