Deaf Child (2017)

Directed by: Alex de Ronde | 71 minutes | documentary

Is it appropriate to speak of a plea for deafness when we talk about ‘Deaf child’? Not from a viewer’s perspective, but this documentary (winner of the IDFA audience award 2017) is in any case a plea for the acceptance of the deaf. There is probably no other way for director Alex de Ronde – after all, he is the father of Tobias, subject of ‘Deaf Child’. The smooth teenager Tobias is the natural protagonist of his own life here, directed by him and his father from his own perspective. Loud city sounds in Amsterdam and Washington, the realistic rendering of Tobias’ guttural sounds: no opschmuck but intimate sincerity that can be enjoyed.

The latter has to be added, because the lives of people with disabilities may be appreciated by their immediate environment, but not one-on-one by a viewer. He must want to put himself in such a subject anyway, but must also be dragged through it by the makers. They cannot and should not stand alone on the side of their subject. The personal involvement of the makers is a point of attention, in fact always in committed art. It is nice to see that De Ronde does its best to involve the viewer, in particular through a good editing of archive images, pleasant imagery and careful construction.

The viewer belongs, and that should be enough. But ‘Deaf Child’ is also funny, and sometimes abrasive. The following also applies here: for those directly involved, this is a daily reality, the viewer must be able to understand it. Alex de Ronde, for example, presents himself as a guest of Catherine Keijl, to explain how he accompanied Tobias at his mother’s funeral service. Through the build-up, ‘Deaf Child’ gradually becomes more and more an ego document in which love is shared. Not only for committed viewers: every viewer who wants to make an effort becomes involved for a while in the fate of this photogenic family.