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Feeling the music
Janelle Watkins
From the Oct 18 print edition
Updated: Today at 06:02 AM
In the 1940’s and 50’s there was no mainstream for people with disabilities. There were some schools for the deaf and the blind, but not much more outside of that. Some American states had laws against people who were physically and mentally disabled that would make your blood chill.
In the early 50’s there was an Alabama legislature that declared people with disabilities as a “menace to the happiness… of the community.” In Vermont, “a blight on mankind;” in Wisconsin a “danger to the race;” and in Kansas, “a misfortune both to themselves and to the public.”
In Indiana the disabled were required to be “segregate [d] from the world;’ and in South Dakota they did not have the “rights and liberties of normal people.”
This is the atmosphere that the film Music Within is dealing with. It is based on the story of real life disabilities activist Richard Pimentel.
Rob Livingston, plays the part of Pimentel and is known for his roles in Adaptation, Little Black Book, and as Jack Berger in Sex and the City. As a child, Pimentel suffers from one terrible ordeal after another. Rather than give up, he makes the best of his situation and tries to better himself. Pimentel as an adult, realizes he has an innate talent for public speaking which leads him to audition for a scholarship to a northwestern college through the debate team. His hopes are dashed however when his idol, Dr. Padrow bluntly informs him that he has no place on the team because he doesn’t speak from his heart. He knows how to spout words well enough, but the inner passion is missing—he merely quotes from other people.
With this dream shattered, Pimentel decides to enlist in a tour of duty to Vietnam. While there, he loses part of his hearing to a bomb blast. He is diagnosed with tinnitus, which causes an almost constant ringing sound in his ears. Upon his return to Oregon, he realizes that he has to adjust to this new aspect of his life and the way that others perceive him with this new disability.
Pimentel finds a friend in Art Honneyman who is played by Michael Sheen, an acclaimed British actor who has also been seen in Blood Diamond, Underworld and Kingdom of Heaven. He plays a genius with quick wit, who is wheelchair bound and suffers from cerebral palsy. As brilliant as Art is, he has difficulty attending college because of the lack of accessibility. Melissa George (known for films such as Turistas and Derailed) stars as Pimentel’s love interest Christine accepts him for who he is, and introduces him to the idea of free love.
With the loss of his hearing, Pimentel finally finds his “music within” and realizes that his calling is to help other disabled people who are unable to help themselves. He gives voice to the voiceless.
Music Within is meant to be, and is more than a heartwarming film. Director and Producer Steven Sawalich, another activist for the hearing impaired, adds humourous bits to the film without trivializing the issues he addresses. The film is definitely worth the watch and worth the emotions that it will undoubtedly evoke within you.
Music Within opens in Toronto on November 7.
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