Children of a Lesser God is a romantic drama which was released on October 3, 1986. Starring William Hurt as James Leeds and Marlee Matlin, who won for her role as Sarah Norman the 1986 Oscar for Best Actress. The movies was also nominated for four other Oscars: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay based on Material from Another Medium. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090830/

"Children of a Lesser God is the kind of good intentioned material that often gets weighed down with sentimentality on the screen. Fortunately, the translation of Mark Medoff's Tony Award-winning [1980] play avoids many of those traps by focusing on a touching and universal love story between a deaf woman and a hearing man."—Variety Staff http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117789866.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

"WATCHING Children of a Lesser God, the screen adaptation of Mark Medoff's 1980 Broadway play, is like being on a cruise to nowhere aboard a ship with decent service and above-par fast-food. Everything has been carefully programmed so that there are no surprises, no discoveries, nothing to do except to sit -with eyes propped open - and applaud the crew's efficiency."— Vincent Canby The New York Timeshttp://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9A0DE6D61731F930A35753C1A960948260&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes

"The trick of telling a love story is deceptively simple: You find a core of romantic energy so strong that nothing -- not the events of the story or the circumstances of the characters -- intrudes. And that's what "Children of a Lesser God" does. This is romance the way Hollywood used to make it, with both conflict and tenderness, at times capturing the texture of the day-to-day, at times finding the lyrical moments when two lovers find that time stops."— Paul Attanasio Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srvc/style/longterm/movies/videos/childrenofalessergodrattanasio_a0ad57.htm

James Leeds (William Hurt) is an educator in a school for the deaf. His teaching methods are unconventional but very affective, especially noticeable is his success with students who had been difficult to teach prior to Leeds renegade teaching style. Leeds finds himself drawn to the beauty of the deaf school custodian Sarah (Marlee Matlin) who had herself been a student at the school. Sarah never seemed to be able to adjust to the hearing world and thus had chosen to stay in the safe confines of the hearing impaired school where she had been educated. Sarah pays little attention to James despite his attempts to develop a relationship with her. James talks with Sarah's mother (Piper Laurie) and discovers part of the reason that Sarah doesn't respond to his efforts at developing a friendship. When he learns that Sarah was sexually molested as a teen he begins to understand her fear of relationships. James does not give up on Sarah, even though he easily could have, and eventually breaks through her defenses. In time they fall in love but they discover that they have much to learn about communicating their feelings. http://www.allmovie.com/work/children-of-a-lesser-god-9273