Hors normes

Bruno and Malik couldn't be too different. Bruno is Jewish, Malik is Arab. Bruno is a loner Malik is a family man. But they are united to help children with autism. And this passion drives every day of their life.

We often forget what a definition of a good person is. In THE EXTRAORDINARY it's those who don't look away and don't give up when things get hard. Once again the duo Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano (The Intouchables) wrote and directed a film about real people standing up to great hardships, and they've done it with a lot of heart, humour and no preaching.

The film's first shot could be one from a thriller - a young girl is running from her pursuers through the city steers, only to be caught and drugged into a van, which quickly drives away. This is a common theme of the film - a fight with preconceptions. What seems like a kidnapping is actually a rescue mission.

Nakache and Toledano created a perfect style of story telling - through small character story arcs and anecdotes they speak of a greater things, creating a versatile canvas of the world their characters live in.

The other strength is in choosing their cast: Vincent Cassel and Reda Kateb are at the peak of their popularity in France and have a perfect chemistry. The script is written with honesty, clarity, irony and humour and can only be described as perfect.

With its themes of following one's calling and challenging the rules society creates for the problems it doesn't understand, THE EXTRAORDINARY is deep and emotionally satisfying experience.

The story: this movie portrays an independent volunteer organisation that helps the most severe autistic patients, which cant get / find any help from the official care providers. Because this volunteer organisation is not an official care provider, they get inquiries by the official government agencies. Will they be able to keep providing care for these vunerable autistic patients or will they be shut down by the government because of bureacratic rules?

The good: endearing, warmhearted portrait of volunteers who care for those autistic people who are abondoned by the official care providers.

More good: some of the finest French actors, performing at their best, among one of them is the famous actor Vincent Cassel, who plays a care giver who dedicates his entire life to the care of autitistic patients.

Autistic people struggle tremendously with intense fears in very ordinary situations, like taking a subway or solliciting for a job. With these very severe autistic people their fears get "translated" into very severe behavioural disorders, like self obsessive repetitive behaviour or even self mutalation.

Not many movies get made about autistic people. This is definitely one that is straight from the heart. Endearing, impressive and shocking, but in the end uplifting and hopeful, because with proper care even the most severe autistic people can improve the quality of their restricted lives...

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.

"The Specials" is a Comedy - Drama movie in which we watch two men being responsible for two separate nonprofit organizations for children and adolescents with autism. They both run their organizations for more than twenty years and they also train young people to become caregivers.

I was amazed by this movie because it presented the real face of not only autism on children and adults but also how society and healthcare system treat them. I could not believe how horrible is the healthcare system regarding these cases and how only a few people from nonprofit organizations truly care about them. The interpretations of both Vincent Cassel who played as Bruno Haroche and Reda Kateb who played as Malik were very good and they presented how is the life of a person responsible for so many children with autism. All in all, I have to say that "The Specials" is an amazing movie and I highly recommend everyone to watch it because I am sure that you won't only learn more about autism but even more about society and the healthcare system..

It is a shame that a meaningful film like this one is not promoted to get more people to watch it, because it contains many hard truths that need to be told, but at least the filmmakers don't ram the message down the viewer's throat the way some movies do. Vincent Cassel, always a dependable actor, is at his career-best here. He is ably supported by a competent cast led by Reda Kateb. I really wish everyone gets to see this special movie, but it is especially recommended for those who are caregivers.