Johnny Belinda

Rosanna Arquette gives an emmy deserved performance as a hearing impaired woman who meets and falls in love with a social worker played by Richard Thomas. Dennis Quaid and Candy Clark co-star in this compelling tearjerker. I'll be the first to admit that this movie brought me to tears of joy and tears of sorrow a number of times. If you get the chance to view this adaption, please do so.

In this remake of a Jane Wyman film, Rosanna Arquette takes the role of Belinda.She is a deaf girl,who finds a light in her dark world. The little shelter Belinda lives in suddenly shines with hope;Richard Thomas plays a visiting aid worker, and he teaches her sign language. When Kyle,played by Dennis Quaid,abuses and rapes Belinda during a town party,Belinda's father has his suspicions about this "new guy in town"; The secret is revealed that his daughter is pregnant.

Although Arquette appears to be a helpless waif, she is determined to fight for her child. The motherly instinct within her brings out strength and courage.There are sweet scenes of tenderness; We hear Belinda pray over her father who dies accidentally by Kyle's anger, and Thomas says to her "I will take you and Johnny away from here", when she shoots her assailant in defense.This movie shows how the disabled can take pride, and prove themselves in a world that does not understand them.

a sensitive performance highlighting the problems of deaf people showing they can be treated as less than normal. Perhaps a bit over the top in the conclusion.