Children of a Lesser God (1986) review

After being hired as a new instructor for deaf teenagers, James Leeds (William Hurt) quickly becomes fascinated with the school's hearing-impaired custodian Sarah (Marlee Matlin) and follows her everywhere - he's convinced he can get her to "speak" rather than just use sign language, but she refuses.  The film, adapted from the play by Mark Medoff, shows a tremendous amount of empathy for the disabled, but there's something about Leeds' aggressiveness in "courting" Sarah that seems predatory and then whenever it needs a dose of drama, it has her act up and throw a fit.  Roger Ebert makes a great point that the movie never bothers to try to "emulate" what life might be like for a deaf person - would it have been so hard to have a few moments with no voices and only subtitles? - and instead focuses on the routine romantic angle (they quarrel, she leaves, they reunite, etc.).  But the real reason to watch it is for its outstanding leads: both Hurt and Matlin deservedly won Academy Awards for their performances - the scene where she uses her own voice is completely devastating - but it's a shame what happened between the two of them off-screen....