This extraordinary 1992 French documentary by Nicolas Philibert, which plunges the viewer into the world of deaf sign language, required Philibert to rethink such basic documentary techniques as framing, editing, and sound recording and mixing. All the sign language is subtitled in English, but the text seems to offer only a fraction of what’s being said: the men, women, and children are so expressive and personal in their beautifully orchestrated gestures and facial expressions that few professional actors could match them. Part of what’s so wondrous here is the spectacle of sign language itself, but equally fascinating is what’s being said about the language and its possibilities. By the end of this film one feels that people who communicate in sign language are capable of expressing thingsand expressing them in waysthat are beyond our grasp. 99 min. In French and sign language with subtitles. (JR)