Hearing-Impaired Protest Babel

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" drew protests from an unexpected quarter in January when 500 hearing-impaired actors who took part in the film were invited to a preview screening in Tokyo but left feeling disappointed and confused. The audience complained of the lack of subtitles on the Japanese scenes, making the story difficult to follow. The story's Japanese section focuses on a distraught hearing-impaired teenager's (Rinko Kikuchi) desperate need to communicate. Although numerous hearing-impaired actors appear in the film, Kikuchi has normal hearing. A petition drive led by Ruruka Minami, a sign-language translator involved in the casting, seeks to convince distributor Gaga Communications to offer subtitled prints for the film's April 28 release. The petition attracted 15,000 signatures as of the end of February. The distributor is considering honoring the request but hasn't reached a decision as to how many prints would be subtitled.

[Source: Variety]