Land of the Deaf

Excellent documentary on the experiences of the hearing impaired, from young to old. Philibert opens the film interestingly with an exhuberant overture for four deaf-signers, before delving, typically delicately into the work of teachers and pupils in a school for deaf children in Southern France before widening the focus to examine the family life of some of the children and others, including a teacher, a member of a deaf theatrical company, a marrying couple and a sign-teacher (Jean-Claude Poulian). The breadth of Philibert's selection and the careful selection of his subject's contextualising explanations (notably those of Poulian's) give this sensitive documentary a satisfyingly inclusive dimension.