TakeShelter (2011)
Director:
Jeff Nichols
Plagued by a series of apocalyptic
visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family
from a coming storm, or from himself.
Main
character Curtis begins to have bad dreams and hallucinations about an
impending story which turns people into zombie-like versions of themselves. Because
of a family history of schizophrenia, he seeks medical help and counseling. Simultaneously,
he begins rebuilding, and adding to, the storm shelter in the family’s
backyard. The cost of the storm shelter is high especially for a working class
family who has major medical bills coming due to their Deaf daughter’s Cochlear
Implant surgery.
All
members of the family use American Sign Language (ASL) and even use the term
correctly. The mother signs more fluently while the father forgets signs and
asks for assistance. The Deaf daughter is played by Deaf actress, Tova Stewart
of Ohio. The young girl received the part after the film’s producer reached out to the Ohio School for the Deaflooking for a young deaf female student. Tova’s parents are deaf.
Take
Shelter premiered in January 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was also screened in May 2011 at the Cannes
Film Festival, where it won the 50th Critics' Week Grand Prix.
How cool, I didn’t realize that there was an element of ASL in the film; I haven’t had the opportunity to see the film yet. That makes me smile; my family uses ASL quite a bit due to several of my family members needing to communicate with out hearing. Most of us can read lips at this point, but sign language is so beautiful; I love using it. “Take Shelter” is extremely intriguing to me especially due to the mind element. I’m currently working really hard traveling on business for Dish earning the money to go back to school for journalism. I watch many movies from Dish Online, which gives me so many resources to enjoy and practice for my future career. It’s far better than taking a nap in the airport.
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