In the Land of Deaf

In this award-winning documentary both the beauty and the courage of the French deaf community are shown. In one segment, a filmmaker, helped by some deaf youngsters, discusses how the process of signing elegantly solves some of the same problems that filmmakers must solve in order to tell stories. In another, the marriage of a deaf couple is marred by an unthinking minister requiring them to exchange their vows aloud, and they have difficulties as well with their search for an appropriate apartment. The rest of the film shows a community so vibrant and successful that what one might have imagined to be a handicap begins to look like an advantage.