Good movies about autism

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I don't believe the media can properly convey the truth.

I thought BenX was pretty good. Although it was sad, Ben reminded me a bit of my brother. Its subtitled. I think it's in danish.

I’ve only seen Rain Man, Mozart and the Whale, Mary and Max, and Adam. Rain Man is pretty good for such a sappy Hollywood portrayal of autism, and Mozart and the Whale is pretty enjoyable, but they both perpetuate the "autism = savant" stereotype, and the characters they focus on seem to just barely qualify as high functioning. Adam is one of those movies that's enjoyable while you're watching it but you probably won't remember it the next day. I enjoyed it more because of its portrayal of AS than for its artistic merits, but Hugh Dancy is great in it. Mary and Max is by far the best of the lot. It gets two thumbs up both for an accurate portrayal of AS and simply as a film. It's every bit as good as the best of Pixar's movies.

Flemish! It's Flemish (Dutch)!
BenX is a film from Belgium, based on a true story. The only thing that's plain different, is that - in real life - Ben really committed suicide.


I've seen Mozart and the Whale. At first, I thought it was a very good movie. Until I started thinking about how many of them weren't aspie, indeed. Most of them were (severely) autistic, and that's a shame because the film wasn't supposed to be about (severe) autism. Although they were portrayed pretty good; others will get the wrong 'message' about Asperger's. I don't know, but I don't think I'd like it if people thought about me like that.

I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, most of the characters seemed a lot closer to classical autism than Asperger's, and I found it difficult to fully relate to any of the characters, aside from in a general sense of "I'm an outsider with mental problems, and these people are outsiders with mental problems."

On the other hand, I loved it for showing such a wide range of people on the spectrum. I've heard so many mixed responses to movies like Adam, which only have one character with Asperger's. Some say it's very accurate, some say it's very inaccurate, and some say it's about in the middle. That's because we're all somewhere different on the spectrum, and ten different people with Asperger's will be ten very different people.

Mozart and the Whale.. read the book. The movie is entertainment, the book was written (with help) by the actual couple. For the book, the two of them wrote their own accounts; then those were split into sections, and the book alternates between the two. Reading the book sheds light on the movie IMO.

Billy The Kid is another one, although it is a documentary, and not about Autism. Billy was diagnosed following the filming.

There are so many movies, documentaries, and TV shows centered on/around or featuring Autistics (to varying degrees) these days.

I've never heard that Bill the Kid had autism. What are the arguments for?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I've heard of this movie but haven't seen it. I think it's the one she was talking about. It's not about the gunfighter.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0971160/

Has anyone else seen Molly? It's about a low-functioning autistic woman who is surgically cured and then relapsed. It wasn't well reviewed but I liked it. It was one of the first things that got me thinking I might be a bit autistic.

Link to film description
It is based on a Sci-Fi book, and is fiction.
No offense intended, but it sounds horrifying to me. Cure??? Pfft. The 'cure" required, IMO, is for those who refuse to expend the necessary energy to co-adapt, and learn to communicate. Then again, I think that Autism is incredibly vague, misdefined, and often incorrectly inclusive of FAR too many comorbids that, while common, are still just that: comorbids. Sorry.. rant off...

Ooops! I should have included a link as reference: Here you go!

I know, I don't disagree, but the protagonist makes that point in the movie. That she was a real person before they magically "cured" her, that when people withdrew from her and institutionalized her she felt rejected. I just found the lead performance gave me something I could identify with.

Ah, cool. Sorry I ranted like that, it just triggered me while investigating the movie, and subsequently, the book it was base on.

I thought Temple Grandin was great.

Mozart and the Whale was good, but I agree that most of the people in the group were sterotypicale autistic behaivor.

I have very mixed feelings about Adam. I thought it was one of the best portial of someone with AS I have seen. But because in the end, the women choose not to be with him, the movie sent the wrong message. I felt the movie said that people with AS can't have relationships. People with AS have enough trouble with relationships and having a movie that says we can't have relationships make it worse for us.

We don't need people thinking. "well, he has AS, like that guy in that movie, looks like alot of trouble. I won't even give him a chance."

If I remember the movie correctly, they didn't end up together because she needed to stay with her family and couldn't come with him when he moved for his new job. It's been awhile since I've seen it, though.

In Belgium there is a movie about autism that is called Ben X which has done really good in Belgium and many other countries during filmfestivals.

It's based on a true story about a boy with autism who committed suicide after being bullied around in school, although they changed the ending in the movie.

I really didn't like the movie, some things were really stereotype (the bullies and ending) and the theme and movie's emotions was handled like a Transformer movie but maybe others will like it....