Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, 2025.
Directed by Shoshannah Stern.
Featuring Marlee Matlin, Shoshannah Stern, Henry Winkler, Lauren Ridloff, and Troy Kotsur.
SYNOPSIS:
In 1987, Marlee Matlin became the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award and was thrust into the spotlight at 21 years old. Reflecting on her life in her primary language of American Sign Language, Marlee explores the complexities of what it means to be a trailblazer.
Shoshannah Stern has made history twice. Firstly, she is a Deaf director, finally able to call the shots in an industry that regularly chooses stereotype and cliché as opposed to breaking new ground. Not incidentally, she has also made an amazing documentary about another trailblazer, thereby cementing our understanding of Deaf cultural history. I am playing a small part in this story as a deaf-blind critic, who is able to enjoy films in no small part due to Marlee’s advocacy.
I admire the film for its subtle way of conveying important themes and messages. One of these is the importance of being able to communicate in the manner that you choose, whether it be spoken language or sign language. Many Deaf people have fought for the recognition of sign languages as valid languages, and furthermore, for society to use those sign languages to create more inclusive environments. Marlee, as I’m sure, has had to stand up for her right to communicate in American Sign Language many times, and has faced exclusion for no fault of her own because others would not sign or provide interpretive services.
When Marlee spoke the names of the nominees of Best Actor in 1988, she caused an uproar in the Deaf community as other Deaf people felt betrayed by her choice to align herself with the oppressors of Deaf people: hearing folks. However, she spoke out of response to claims that she could not speak and therefore was not worth a single damn. It is a paradox: do you need to take on the characteristics of the oppressors in order to give your community more recognition? Due to the isolation Marlee had experienced up to that point, she was either damned if she did or damned if she didn’t. If she signed, she’d be pitied – as she was even when she won an Oscar. She may have been excluded from more roles if people did not know she could speak. (Even to this day, people still wonder if I’m mute.) And if she talked, she would be demonized by a Deaf culture she was only starting to learn about. She did both, pleasing none, and it is only in retrospect that we are able to appreciate the sacrifices made by a trailblazer that had no choice but to move forward.
Being Deaf can be isolating when access to other signers and interpreters is sporadic at best. Communication is reliant on a community of senders and receivers, and vocabulary is built through the sharing of experiences. When someone has only a limited number of people to communicate
with, their access to information becomes restricted. Marlee was isolated as she did not know many Deaf folks, and because she was in an abusive relationship where her abuser would want her to depend on him for all things. This is an important message that is expressed in the film: Marlee did not know what ‘domestic violence’ was due to language deprivation. One can only understand abuse if one learns that it is wrong, presumably from others that have similar experiences of unjust conditions. It is fortunate that many resources about abuse prevention and awareness are available in different sign languages across the world.
It then makes sense that Marlee’s career and advocacy work has been all about improving communication between Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing people to avoid unnecessary isolation. Marlee fought for televisions and all content to have closed captioning, and as a result American TVs were mandated to have closed captioning boxes with them in the early 90s (leading to when I was able to enjoy PBS’s Wishbone and Zoom among many other shows growing up). Marlee recognized that pervasive stereotypes were gaining traction about Deaf people not being able to speak (or amount to much) so she spoke at the 1988 Oscars ceremony, then focused on taking on roles that complicated our understandings of Deaf people.
It is the ability of both Marlee and Shoshannah to shine a lens on a time where society was grappling with its understanding of Deafness and Deaf culture, and to show how, in 2025, some things are better and some things are worse, which will allow this film to stand the test of time.
As an accessibility note, the captioning for this film was hard to read at times, changed colours and moved around a bit on the screen. It would be best to have a high contrast feature (black background with white text for me) and to make the captioning stationary.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
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