Alles außer gewöhnlich

Based on the true story of a man named Stephane Benhamou and his organization, The film tells the story of Bruno, a middle-aged French man who has dedicated his life to help and support people and families dealing with autism. Bruno, played flawlessly by Vincent Cassel, runs a semi-pro organization along his friend and colleague Malik (Reda Kateb) and together they do all they possibly can to build a life for children and adolescents with the most severe cases od autism.

This film is sharply written, you'll get throwed into the heart of story form the very first minutes and you'll get to know the various characters, the legal problems of the organization, the children and their parents (or lack there of) and as the story unfolds to you bit by bit, you'll soon forget that you're just watching a motion picture, you'll forget that Cassel and Kateb are two superstars imposing as these roles.

This is a very moving film. It clearly is a passion project for the directors (they actually waited a long time to make this), and the film is simply amazing. I wish this was on every screen instead of some crap they're showing these days.

This is probably not the best movie this year in any particular aspect. It is the fact that it's outstanding in many of them which makes it one of the memorable ones for me.

Sure, the story is made to please. There's no twist in the plot or sophistication in the narration technique. Nothing too innovative about it indeed. The message alone, however, is very powerful, despite its predictability. Add a well-measured balance of dramatic and hilarious moments, a story that moves fast along with remarkable acting, and the movie stands.

You'll get the best out of it if you watch it in French, of course. Very certainly worth one's time.

This is definitely one of the better films of the year. The plot is brilliantly non-Hollywoodlistic in terms of no major narrational jumps or peaks, but instead situates itself as almost daily depiction of the life of Bruno, Malik and the rest. Whilst dealing with difficult societal issues it, in classic french drama-style uses humour and feel-good scenes to highlight certain issues, but the overall feeling left after watching the film is that it does so to perfection.

This is a deeply moving film, dealing with a difficult subject - autism - in a no-holds-bared fashion. The acting is first rate. The story is admirably structured. I was surprised when it ended, which means it moved right along. The audience I saw it with was left speechless at the end, and for good reason.

This is NOT a feel-good movie in the American sense. But it is a deeply humane movie, with real people and not flat stereotypes. It should earn a lot of very deserved awards.

At some points in the movie I felt like they used real disabled persons and some of the reactions were seriously genuine. I'm not sure if they actually did, but I wouldn't be suprised. The movie is almost like a documentary just following the lives of Reno and his association, who take care of disabled kids no one else can deal with, while still following a traditional narrative. The former is due to the real-life influence the movie has. The acting is top-notch, I almost didn't feel like watching a movie but watching actual events instead. The story is great too and to top it off it comes with a message. It's just a nice, heartwarming movie which left me smiling throughout most of the film.