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The idea of watching an 80-minute documentary about cochlear implants may sound dry and esoteric. Nonetheless, the "Fury" in director Josh Aronson's Academy Award-nominated documentary "Sound and Fury" is potent.

These implants have given deaf children the ability to hear language well enough that they can talk on a telephone or speak without a deaf accent. Despite the benefits, many in the deaf community are uneasy about what the technology could represent. The movie examines the benefits and drawbacks of the technology, but what makes "Sound and Fury" special is that it is presented not as a parade of talking heads but from the perspective of a unique family, whose relations become strained because of their attitudes toward these devices.

Heather Artinian signs a message to her parents in the documentary "Sound and Fury."

Chris and Peter Artinian are two Long Island brothers who each have at least one deaf child, and both have been told their children should receive the cochlear implants. But their attitudes toward what to do with their offspring could not be more different. Chris is hearing and doesn't hesitate on getting the implant for his son, while Peter, who is deaf, mulls over the possibility. His instincts tell him no.

As the movie progresses, Peter's opposition to the implants is reinforced. His wife Nita, who is also deaf, briefly considers getting an implant for herself, but chooses not to because its benefits won't be as dramatic as they could be for their daughter Heather. Heather clearly seems to want one, but her parents are not enthusiastic because some of the educators and physicians involved with the implants will discourage her from signing, which she can already do fluently. This will make communicating with her parents difficult. Worse (in an unusually harrowing moment), they take Heather to a school full of children with the implants. None of the other kids interact with her and respond to her as if she's invisible. The incident changes Heather's mind and convinces Peter to move his family to a more deaf-friendly community in Maryland. The decision is greeted with scorn by Peter's hearing parents who accuse him of child abuse.

Chris' decision is only somewhat easier. His wife Mari is the hearing child of two deaf parents. Her folks are livid about her decision (in part because they won't be able to converse with their grandchild), and their friends chastise Mari when they discover what she's about to do.

Because we see the debate through the eyes of a real family, "Sound and Fury" has an urgency that's often missing from documentaries. Aronson achieves an astonishing intimacy with the family. The camera is close to Peter's mother when she and her son get in an especially torrid argument about his actions. Aronson is able to leap in the middle of these emotional storms with astonishing ease. Ultimately, the result is thoroughly unsettling because we can see how much the Artinians are torn apart by the issue.

It's especially troubling because the family members themselves are intelligent, and the debate never really ends. In the film, Peter admits that while his hard work has landed him a good job with a Wall Street broker, his deafness has placed a glass ceiling on how far he can advance. Even if his abilities aren't the issue, the attitudes his co-workers have could be detrimental, and he clearly doesn't want that for his daughter.

If a conclusion can be reached from watching "Sound and Fury," it's that cochlear implants are an important advance, but they are not miracles. Technology itself is not a blessing if those who apply it don't weigh the consequences. "Sound and Fury" runs less than an hour and a half, but the questions it raises will resonate for some time.

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