William Hurt, I have to say, is my favourite actor. His ability to communicate subtlty of emotion is extraordinary. In 'Children of the Lesser God' he plays a teacher of deaf children. He uses 'unorthodox methods'. Perhaps some of us had a teacher who stood out in our memories as being particularly able to relate to our needs. If so, this film will have resonance for you. At its heart though, this film is a love story. Love, between Hurt's character and a deaf woman - Marlee Matlin. There is a scene where she asks him to show her what music sounds like. Such intensity of emotion - Wonderful! This 1986 film also turned me onto my favourite Bach Piece 'Concerto of two violins' (used in the aforementioned scene).
From the Washington Post:
"The trick of telling a love story is deceptively simple: You find a core of romantic energy so strong that nothing -- not the events of the story or the circumstances of the characters -- intrudes. And that's what "Children of a Lesser God" does. This is romance the way Hollywood used to make it, with both conflict and tenderness, at times capturing the texture of the day-to-day, at times finding the lyrical moments when two lovers find that time stops.
And almost incidentally, one of the lovers is deaf. James Leeds (William Hurt) plays a teacher of the deaf who, bouncing from job to job after a stint in the Peace Corps, finds himself at a school that Sarah (Marlee Matlin) used to attend. One of the school's brightest graduates, she's now a janitor there, mopping floors and cleaning toilets. She's a sensuous beauty, but what really captivates Leeds is her spitfire spirit, her stubborn refusal to learn how to speak."
Note: There is sexual content in this movie and some profanity - so I guess you have been warned now :)
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