Temple Grandin

On DVD, a Netflix rental.

The story jumps around a bit in time but it is never done arbitrarily, and is always easy to follow. It spans from the mid 1950s to the late 1970s.

Claire Danes is Temple Grandin, born with autism at a time when autism was not yet understood. An indication was telling the mother that the 4-year-old girl should be institutionalized, ostensibly for the rest of her life, because there was no "cure." This movie, and Temple Grandin's life, shows that there is no cure, but it also shows how that cannot hold back a person with the correct motivation.

I've always liked Claire Danes, as a pleasant actress in lightweight roles, but her performance here caught me completely off guard. The biggest compliment I can give is that very quickly I wasn't watching Danes portray Grandin, I was watching Grandin. I have seen many, many great performances in my 50+ years of enjoying movies and none were better than hers here.

Julia Ormond is her mother Eustacia and Catherine O'Hara is her Aunt Ann, where Temple first was exposed to life on a farm while visiting her for the summer before college.

Temple had difficulty but managed high school, and then also college. She was unusually bright, but not in the usual sense. She could not just listen to a subject, she had to visualize it, experience it, and when she did was able to master it like few could. In college her great motivator was David Strathairn as Dr. Carlock, a science teacher. Not only did he stand up for her when others wanted to dismiss her as too difficult, he taught her that when she sees a door (a barrier) she should look it as a door of opportunity. She kept that vision as she encountered barriers, and she encountered them often.

Temple Grandin was both practical and empathetic. One of her specialties became livestock, cattle. She knew they had a purpose, to be killed for our food, but she set out to improve the handling of cattle so as to keep them calm and minimize their suffering. It is estimated that 50% of the cattle handled in North America today are done so by techniques she pioneered and worked to have implemented. Today she is a professor.

A superb movie of a really inspiring woman.

March 2018 update: I watched it again now, it was just as absorbing as it was when I first watched it.

First, I also disagree completely with the first reviewer. It makes me wonder if this person actually knows someone who is autistic. And this is the only downfall of the movie if there is one at all. I feared that someone watching this movie with little to no autism experience would take the presentation of this great story the wrong way. Thinking it may be silly or shallow, when in fact it is not. Anyone who has not had first hand experience may need some instructional guide along the way. I would recommend reading her book and the purpose of the way this movie was correctly portrayed will be clear.

My son is 8 years old with Autism and so much of this movie hit home with me and also gave me hope. It is an inspiring movie and story, and a true one at that. Time constraints understandably didn't allow for the whole story to be told, but this was a great attempt and success in doing so. It is so hard to explain to other people about the intricate details of autism with out lecturing someone on it for hours. This movie helps bridge that gap for the unaware and touches the heart of hope to the ones who are aware.

Thank you for making this movie. I read this book a couple years ago and was delighted when I heard they had been making the movie, but also worried they would get it wrong. Well they didn't, wonderful movie!

I saw a documentary on Temple Grandin that I found very inspirational. I had hoped that this film would bring about the same feelings and, thankfully, it did not disappoint. Claire Danes hit a home run with this one; I was really impressed with her portrayal. She went smoothly through the extremes of emotion that Temple felt: terror to delight, anger to pride. The sometimes halting, awkward way that Temple speaks combined with the often too-loud volume must have been difficult for her to mimic. But Danes managed to do it very convincingly. The director, Mick Jackson, should also be proud of what he's accomplished. The addition of the moving cattle diagrams and the distorted sounds really gave the viewer an idea of how Temple's mind works. This is my favorite HBO film since "Something the Lord Made" and I hope it gets the recognition it well deserves.

I'm a parent of a child with high-functioning autism, and while my child's condition isn't nearly as severe as Ms. Grandin's, I was touched and awed by the portrayal in the film on a deeply personal level and as a fan of film.

Not once during the entire film was I able to sit back and say, unequivocally, that's Claire Danes on the screen. Not once, because that was not Claire Danes - it was Temple Grandin, or at the very least what we saw on the screen was %99.999 the character brought to life with an unbelievably immersive portrayal of Ms. Grandin by Ms. Danes.

I've seen those looks, those pensive stares filled with wonder and awe and fear but on a level so completely foreign to those of us who do not have autism. There were moments in this film I was looking right into my child's eyes through that screen.

Ms. Danes is an extraordinary talent, and while I've watched many of her films with interest, I will make it a point to see those I have not yet seen, and will watch with renewed interest and intensity those I have already seen.

Wow...seriously, that's about all I can say about her performance - Wow.

I found it wonderful, precious, motivational, makes you feel as if you are a character in the movie. It just pulls you in her mind and makes you discover her thinking also making you wish you could help her. Also shows you in this world life isn't easy an some people are not very nice (as we all know) but out of the hundreds of people is very much ONE person not afraid to help. Temple shows the viewer we can all be scared. Whether you have disabilities, fears, doubts or anything you can imagine you simply can do it, she showed it. Claire Danes you made me believe you were Temple Grandin I applaud you for your dedicated work maybe will see you at the Awards in 2011. Take a Bow (or a Hug Machine) So much more to add but I advise watching & Watch with your heart.

"If I could snap my fingers and become non autistic I would not do so. Autism is part of who I am." - Temple Grandin