CODA
****

As a CODA (child of deaf adults), Julie is the only one of a family, which includes her parents and brother, who has hearing. They live in a fishing village. Julie, aside from working on the family fishing boat, attends high school, and is developing into a talented singer. This gives her the opportunity to audition for scholarship to the famed Berklee School of Music. There is romance, suspense, drama, music, family conflict, and family love.

Julie is played by Ruby Rossi, who obviously mastered sign language, with which her character was quite facile. The film was well received and broke records at Sundance. The actors playing her family members were obviously also skilled in sign language. Her brother and parents in the film were actually deaf and they are Daniel Durant, Troy Kotsur, and the well-known deaf actress Marlee Matlin.

There was much to navigate and negotiate for this complicated movie production and much of the credit goes to director Sian Heder. The movie is well worth seeing. It is available on Apple TV+ who paid over $25 million to create this film.

While from a different perspective, this is a tale of obstacles and setbacks met with love and resilience. It is one of those films that engages you and allows you to feel both anguish and joy.