Review of CODA

You don't have to know ASL to love this movie.

One lazy afternoon, I reached out to friends I hadn't said hello since the customary holiday greetings. There are days that I'm still overwhelmed with life, but I'm glad I got past the feeling and said hello to my filmmaker friends. I asked for movie recommendations, and my friend told me to watch CODA.

It became an hour-long catch up with friends, and I know that I will always feel comfortable with them, because they are my mirror.

If you are a cinephile, you might already have heard of CODA, and it is far from being a Hallmark movie. It isn't a feel-good movie, it is more than that, it takes us to a world we hardly take notice especially now when most of us are already self-absorbed with our lives, and that is OK. This movie reminds us that we are all connected somehow, not only by our pain but by our triumphs.

CODA

CODA means Children of Deaf Adults, but this is not a film to make you feel bad about deaf people. Instead, it is a glimpse of their world, hardly any different from ours. Lack of hearing isn't their problem. It is a part of who they are.

When was the last time we have seen a movie like CODA, where the deaf parts are played by real deaf actors? And that’s a part that the movie got it right — Authenticity.

The story revolves around a family where all of them are deaf except for Ruby, and their family is no different, except they use ASL to communicate. At first, you might think that here comes the drama, a hearing daughter who wants to escape her life, her family, her small town in exchange for her dreams, but the ending will leave you pleasantly surprised at the end.

It could be a lot for someone young like Ruby, who thought she had to protect her family from the outside world when the truth is, her family doesn't need her protection.

Ruby loves to sing, and her family doesn't know she is good at it. Have you ever wondered how the deaf listen to music because they can?

She believes she is torn between her obligations to her family and her quest to follow her dream.

Caution: Spoiler Alert!

In the end, her family didn't want her to stay because that is what family is all about it, especially our parents; they want what is best for us.

The movie isn't about sacrificing our lives for our family. Instead, it is finding the middle. It is enjoying the moments that life offers us even when the horizon looks dark and bleak.

Ruby found a guy to fall in love with, a teacher who supports her dream, and a family that rallies behind her so that in the end, she not only finds her voice but to sings her way into the future.

Final words.

Don't we always see people with disabilities as people who need protection, and when we find that too cumbersome for us, we choose to stay away from them and not deal with them?

And this movie hopefully opens your eyes, as it did mine. We shouldn't act differently around them. Because when we do, they retract and choose to be left alone.

In the end, love and family wins.

Life sends us pockets of joy when we think life is hard, which is OK to embrace. It was a lesson when I looked back at the years I was my Mom's caregiver; life will always come with surprises that I would be happy about, even for a short while.

Ruby found her voice in her singing, and to anyone out there feeling that life has taken everything from them, one has to look out for life's little surprises.

You’re All I Need To Get By

CODA is a must-watch. You will be surprised to find out that we don't have to learn ASL to understand deaf people because there is a universal language we all understand, and that is love.

CODA is streaming on Apple TV. The ensemble cast includes Emilia Jones, who plays Ruby Rossi, Marlee Matlin, her mother, Troy Kotsur, her dad, and Daniel Durant, who plays her brother.

(Disclosure: Affiliate links above.)