My Review of "CODA"

CODA is a coming of age movie that came out in 2021. The story is simple but there's so many elements that make it such a multi-layered movie. There are elements of discrimination, obligation, duty, loyalty, ambition and so much more. I don't know how they crafted so many things into this one story but I'm so glad that they did and I finally got around to watching it.

The movie starts out in the waters. Here we get introduced to the Rossi family. They're a family of fishermen. This goes back for generations and now with the economy, they've fallen on hard times. Just when they think things are going bad, things are about to get worse.

This family happens to be hearing impaired as well. The only one that can hear is our lead character Ruby. She's basically the family's interpreter. They can't really function without her as she's an integral part of the business. Ruby also happens to be the family's gateway between the hearing world and their own world. There are more sanctions being put on fishermen. The family needs Ruby to help navigate all of the new policies and markets trying to gouge them for their catch.

She's basically been doing this all her life. That's not what she wants to do in her life though. Ruby has a love of singing and a teacher at her school has discovered that she has untapped potential. Excited, Ruby is eager to hone her skills and perhaps even earn a scholarship to a school out in Boston.

This would mean that her family would have to be able to handle everything without her. That's pretty tough, when you see how much they distrust the hearing world. Still, there has to be some sort of compromise, right? Perhaps Ruby will have a sense of obligation to dedicate her life to her family. Those are the questions that she's going to be tackling throughout this movie.

The movie tells this in such an entertaining way. There's tons of comedy, drama, and intrigue as you watch this movie. The Rossi's are an open book with one another because they isolate themselves from the hearing world. They don't really know how to act when it comes to the general public. This is horrifying for Ruby. It's intense and hilarious at the time whenever we find ourselves in Ruby's shoes.

Everything in this movie is quite relatable. Each of the characters are so alive and realistic. They have real personalities that we can identify with and understand. All of their motivations and hesitations are quickly understood because of their obvious situations. Though it's not a complicated story, each of these layers of storytelling does help us feel this a bigger story than it really is.

I like that they even switched up certain scenes so that we could see and experience the perspective of the father at one point. Being someone that has always been able to hear all my life, it's tough for me to understand how difficult it would be for someone hearing impaired to try to understand simple things such as concerts.

There are some raunchy discussions within this movie but they never really go dirty. That's where I think they saved themselves and were able to keep this a family friendly movie. It can be watched by the whole family and really the theme of the whole movie is love and how we show it in our own ways.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was way better than I expected to be. It's a movie that I'll be recommending to all my friends because it's truly that entertaining. I have to give this one a 9 out of 10. For go check it out if you have the opportunity to do so.