Posted: 05/07/08Premieres Thursday, May 8 on HBO
Although the film has a catchy rather bold title, the documentary is anything but. The title suggests a concept which implies that a character within the piece is going to be able to use their listening skills perhaps in a direct fashion. However, the piece takes on more of a family video type movie which is coincidental because the documentary begins with old home movie footage.
It starts off with a compassionate story about the director's deaf mother. Within the opening dialogue, the director comments on how her mother used to sing to her as a child. Once the daughter realized that her mother did not sound like a majority of other parents, the mom never sang again. The story is touching to a point, but sells itself short of being a classic.
The story portrays the journey of two people. These two people have been deaf their entire lives and now, they are receiving cochlear implants which give them the ability to hear. It can be categorized in three significant stages; before the surgery, during the surgery, and after the surgery. Within these segments there are clips of classic home videos of the family. The images of the family are shot in the obsolete style much similar to a "moving pictures" show. It is somewhat catchy if the audience had a direct relationship to the people involved. There are several spots throughout each of the segments which are worth noticing.
The first scene is when the director's mother is walking through a field with her dogs. She begins to rustle some bushes and comments on how she wonders what the sound will be like. She said that she knows the plants make a sound, but she does not hear them. Watching this is a little pathetic because it was like the fact that she was deaf was being thrown into the audience's faces. This scene could have been thirty seconds at most, however, it lasted a couple of minutes. Also, during this scene, the camera is a little shaky.
The actual surgery procedure is also too long for comfort. Leave it to HBO to actually show the surgery footage for both of the parents. Again, the scene could have been a lot shorter then what it actually was. The preparations are a little redundant as well. The audience is well aware of how a surgical preparation works and does not need to see it repeatedly.
The story then focuses on the recovery time of the mother. She is very sick and a little disturbed by the entire process. Again, the audience does not need to hear every couple of seconds that she is going to vomit or she cannot stop going to the bathroom. Her discomfort almost seemed to be a little scripted in that sense and, combined with the surgery footage, a little tacky.
The documentary could have ended there. However, it continues. After the director's father has the procedure done, the process goes all over again making the story's redundancy a little bit annoying. I would have like to see one surgery, one brief recovery and then a superb to finish it off. However, the director decided to extend it to a point where it did not need to go.
A documentary is meant to show the side of life that not many people are aware. It is meant to be a significant learning experience. One aspect which I thought would have added to the film is statistics. How many people gain hearing after the surgery? What is the percentage of people who suffer from depression after the surgery is completed? How many Deaf people actually consider the surgery? This information would have made it more informative and less like a home movie.
Hear and Now lacked direction and intrigue. It showed the life of two people who had a procedure, which is now commonly done, and the results of those two people. It portrayed a sense of desperation and an idea that the director made a home movie to show the world.
Andrew Keller is a film critic living in Chicago.