La voce del silenzio

Everyone I know thinks this movie is weird, until I make them rewatch the beginning and pay close attention. Then they love it.

Whoever trashed this movie regarding the autism obviously did not watch it. The child was NOT austistic. She was trying to handle her father's death with things she learned from her Mayan archaeologist friend.

I think if you have any brain in your head and have an attention span large enough to actually watch the whole movie, it is thoroughly enjoyable.

This movie is very interesting to watch and the characters are well-acted by Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones. The little girl is very convincing as well. It's a good movie, but people should know: this is not about autism.

I have an autistic daughter. Even in regressive autism, which is not that common, you don't just become autistic through emotional trauma, as this movie suggests. And you don't just stop talking one day. It's a progressive or, rather, regressive thing. And regressive autism takes place about age 2-3, not age 6. Her seeming imperviousness to danger is autistic-like and the screams when things change is something that can happen, but please don't come away from this movie thinking this is what autism is.

Many autistic children are not silent and do interact or try to. Take note of the scenes at the school with real autistic children to get a somewhat better picture.

This movie is more about emotional trauma than autism. Leading the viewer to believe otherwise is a tragic disservice. But what's worse is then leading the viewer to believe simple psychological intervention will "fix" autism.

The one good thing is that the movie shows autistics to be bright and very creative. If you want to learn something about autism, learn that.

Although there are some parts of the plot where you might say "Yeah, right", those are mostly incidental. It's a really nice story and I actually give Tommy Lee Jones credit for keeping the tone for the most part subtle! Nice score, maybe a little "normal Hollywood tearjerker" style, but still nice.

This film was educational about the problems that autistic children face. The part of the film that stays with me is when Tommy Lee Jones's character states that a lot of autistic children are misdiagnosed as crack babies or something else....even demonic possession. I work with autistic children and the repetition shown by the children in the movie is displayed. If you want to see a healthy environment for autustic children, this movie has it.

I found the story engrossing and especially enjoyed how the characters put the pieces together as the movie progressed. I also thought parts of the soundtrack were excellent. There is one scene that has stayed with me years after I saw the flick.

This is not a documentary. One reason I rented the movie is my clinical experience with autistic children. If you are the kind of person who requires movies even tangentally reflect how it is in the real world then don't watch it. If you think Hollywood will educate the public about autism this movie will upset you.

This is a thinking person's movie.