Children of a Lesser God is a sensitive love story about James, a speech teacher who moves to a new deaf school and falls for introverted Sarah, a former student who decided to stay in the school because she can't relate with people.

This movie is basically a story about overcoming the difficulties of communication between two people, but it's never that simple since Sarah has one of the strongest and most defensive personalities ever seen in a movie.

As a deaf person, Sarah decided to rely on sex to gain men's affections and so can't commit to a meaningful relationship. She also fears James will treat her like everyone else always has. It's up to him to prove her wrong.

William Hurt and Marlee Matlin are both perfect in this movie. The '80s were a great decade for Hurt, and he was already riding on the success of his previous Oscar victory. One could only expect a great performance from him. It's Matlin who's the revelation here, conveying her personality through body language and sign language. She proved that acting has nothing to do with words and deserve the Oscar for this performance.

This movie is slow, sometimes dull, but for those with patience, it'll be quite rewarding on an emotional level.