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Deaf Major 
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TITLE |
Mute
Witness (1995) |
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DISABILITY |
Deaf
Speaking Impaired |
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COUNTRY |
Germany /
UK/Russian |
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NOTES |
A mix of
Russian and English dialogue. A speaking impaired special
effects artist is witness to a filmed murder ( a snuff movie). |
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Billy a
make-up artist on a film set is mute but can hear |
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(im)perfectly.
She and her sister communicate using signing. |
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The film is
being made in Moscow. |
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Billy
returns to the film set after others have left and witnesses |
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what she
thinks is a snuff movie. This is followed by a long, |
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long chase.
When she is safe she makes a phone call and |
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uses a crude
code of tapping to communicate. |
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Of course
when the police turn up at the 'murder' scene there |
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is no trace
of what she described. So it is assumed she is |
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wrong and
her deafness presumably re-inforces the |
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scepticism.
Of course while the characters in the film |
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assume she
is dumb i.e. stupid we the audience know she is |
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right
because we have seen what she saw. Later Billy uses a |
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modem to
answer the phone reading from and typing into a |
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The film
continues with more murders since after the fashion |
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of such
films any character finding evidence also finds the |
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killer
standing behind them. And of course the killer is still |
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after Billy.
When he catches up with her we have a fanciful |
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chase around
the sofa while she looks for a weapon. And |
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with a
little imagination she electrocutes him in the bath. |
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Best treated
as a farce. Many shock effects of the type which |
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would hardly
fool a film audience let alone in reality. |
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The attitude
to Billy's deafness while exploitative does show |
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some
understanding which is really lost in a film as dire as |
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Notes
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