Mozart & The Whale (2005)

Loved it!

As a parent of a child with Aspergers, I was curious to see how this movie played out.

Josh Hartnett should be up for an Academy award- he portrayed many mannerisms I see daily. He was Great!

I loved the story line (I really could do without the 'bed' scene)- and would recommend it to anyone who is trying to understand AS. June 8, 2008

autism spectrum

I saw this film several days ago while in South Africa. I missed the very first part and probably wouldn't have paid all that much attention to the film until the lead female character is convulsed by the clanging sounds of carnival rings. I'd seen somebody--a four year old child--do this before except the aural stimulus was flushing toilets rather than brass rings.

The rest of the film was entertaining and informative. It was sympathetic to people suffering the enormous disability of being unable to accurately relate to their social surroundings. The film also accurately depicted some of the various manifestations of high-functioning autism of which Asperger's is but a variety. The film examines, as films will, the social and love difficulties of these people but I am pleased that the screen writers made a real attempt at getting it right.

At one time this wasn't true of movies about medical issues. All the producers were interested in was the drama itself and medical details were largely irrelevant. Nowadays, I'm glad to see that writers/directors/producers make a real effort to get the medicine right. I'm reminded of "Mr. Jones" in which Richard Gere plays a manic-depressive with all its high-lows, confusion, depression and exhilaration. Manic-depression [bipolar] is, however, is a well known entity wheras high-function autism/Asperger's is not.

I can guarantee that most physicians and even some psychiatrists/psychologists wouldn't recognize a high-functioning autistic patient if he hit them in the face. If the child is verbal, intelligent and bright, how could he possibly have autism? After all, autistic children are non-verbal, sway and bump and have lost virtually all contact with the surrounding world. Well it ain't that easy. Most autistic children and adults show "milder" forms of autism.

Why the spectrum? I don't really know but I can make a fairly accurate prediction. Autism isn't a single thing and doesn't have a single causative agent. It's a syndrome with many causes and with many clinical manifestations. Some cases may be genetic, others due to pre-natal damage, others due to viral encephalopathy, and others... Well, you get my point.

Ron Braithwaite, author of Mexican Conquest novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"

June 7, 2008

Flat

Ron Bass won an Oscar for his screenplay Rain Man and like so many people who have tried to replicate their success with a similar work, here he has failed. Mozart and the Whale takes us into the world of two people who suffer from Asperger's, a form of autism, but where Rain Man was compelling and moving, Mozart and the Whale falls flat. Josh Harnett gives a pretty good performance and Rhada Mitchell is charming and attractive, but these two actors can't fix a terribly flawed script. May 23, 2008

Funny, heartwarming

This movie is funny, yet heart warming. It shows you what it's like to go threw life not fitting in with the "norm". April 27, 2008

Needed more clarity

I was disapointed in this movie in some ways. I work with adults with aspergers and found it to be not so real in some ways. I would have liked to seen more on they both developed their relationships to be better and not so much on them being in bed and having intercourse. That to me was a turn down. I would have liked more of a way to show how they were able to cope together more and see more of the subtle ways of aspergers develope. Its a "3" star movie but its a ok version of aspergers if one does not know about them. April 21, 2008

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