"The Silent Child" is a powerful short film about a young girl who has been deaf since birth. It depicts the difference between her silent world and her family's normal world. Libby's family is extremely busy and does not seem to understand what she is dealing with on a daily basis. Her parents hire a tutor for her to help her learn to communicate. Libby's silent world and her family's busy, ignorant world are shown together and the difference between the two is shown extremely well. These differences are strongly shown through different lighting and setting.
The lighting in the film seems to be very pale and cold. There is a scene in the film where the parents are both fighting about what to do about Libby; to continue with sign language, lip reading, and what to do in general. The lighting is very dark and silhouettes of the parents can be seen. Even though they can communicate through speech, they still struggle to communicate. The lighting is dark to show the contrast between the family's world and Libby's.
The setting plays a large role in the difference between the two worlds. Often times when Libby is with her tutor, they are outside doing fun things or outside of the house exploring the world. Most of the physical talking in this film is done inside closed walls. When there is interaction between Libby and her mother, it is done inside the house. At the end of the film, the camera shows a top view of Libby in the playground at school. She does not know how to communicate with anyone and this is shown by the prison-like feel of the school.
Overall I think this short film was very well done. It does a great job of showing what deaf children/adults live with and how communication works.
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