Gallaudet University is a special place. It’s far more than a university for the deaf. If you live in Washington, DC, it’s a pillar of the community. And in 1988, it was the home of a revolution that would make this country a better place indefinitely. Deaf President Now!
tells the incredible true story of how the student body insisted that their school be run by one of their own. Directors Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim’s documentary follows the four students who led the movement for a deaf president at Gallaudet University and their meteoric rise from student government to national news story.
For the first 124 years of its existence, Gallaudet University never had a deaf president, despite being the largest deaf university in the world. The student body, and specifically four students — Jerry Covell, Greg Hilbrook, Bridgette Bourne-Firl, and Tim Rarus — were done waiting. They had four demands, chief among them, a deaf president. Though this ragtag group seemed unpolished at first, the world watched them grow up during the movement which saw their demands being met after eight days of protest.
Deaf President Now Creates Visceral Emotion
It’s A Standard Documentary Without It
As documentaries go, there is nothing formally inventive taking place in Deaf President Now! As the genre seems to be in a place of rapid evolution, it’s never been more commonplace on TV. But like the stand-out documentary Number One on the Call Sheet, this documentary doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to prove it’s worth.
What Deaf President Now! lacks in creativity it makes up in emotion. The feelings that come across in both the stock footage and talking/signing interviews are undeniable. The punk rock energy the core cast evokes in the late 80s is tangibly righteous. As the movie explains how people on the board, like Jane Spillman, saw the deaf community as disabled and lesser than, you can’t help but root harder for the students.
It’s easy to imagine every subject as a youth in Deaf President Now! because we can all relate to growing up. The film is merely using the lens of progress to calibrate our understanding of all students. The incoming president the students are raging against, Elisabeth Zinser, is also the first woman elected to the position, and there is real tension between her and Bourne-Firl — then and now. Watching Zinser join the cause but also insist that she is a feminist gives her another dimension.
Despite some of their differences, they agreed when it counted most. The film lays out clearly that, in the grand scheme of things, this took place over a relatively short period, but the results were monumental. By the standard of any political movement, demanding and getting a different president in under a year is rather amazing, and the film makes note of that.
Guggenheim made his mark 25 years ago, winning best documentary feature for An Inconvenient Truth, and has stayed relevant in the space with He Named Me Malala and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Whereas DiMarco has mostly acted in shows like Queer as Folk and Station 19. A seasoned documentarian and a deaf actor would make the perfect combination, turning Deaf President Now! into a heartwarming tale of justice that changed the political landscape and laid the groundwork for the Americans With Disabilities Act.
While it’s a very standard documentary in terms of style, and it’s not brave enough to fully delve into race and gender, Deaf President Now! is never redundant and always urgent. It’ll surely make your heart explode in happiness.
Deaf President Now! is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Deaf President Now!
Deaf President Now! documents the historic 1988 protests at Gallaudet University, a renowned insтιтution for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, which culminated in the appointment of Dr. I. King Jordan as the university’s first Deaf president.
- Release Date
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January 28, 2025
- Runtime
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101 Minutes
- Director
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Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim
- Perfect runtime. Never redundant and always urgent
- Will make your heart explode with happiness
- Only 2 needle drops and they both work
- Very standard documentary
- Not brave enough to get into race and gender
