Temple Cleans Up

Hello Freedomphiles!  Back in May, I watched the HBO telepic Temple Grandin.  If you read my review, you remember that I was totally blown away by both the movie and the performance of Claire Danes:

Danes, on the other hand, who in some ways had an easier time because she is playing a real person, crawled inside of Temple Grandin and almost literally became her.  She played the role straight, without the usual maudlin characteristics typical of the "dysfunction of the week" movie that inhabit the boob tube.  She played the role not as a caricature or an impression, but as Temple.  So accurate was her portrayal, Temple herself, who had made herself infinitely available to Danes during production, said watching the film was "like going in sort of a weird time machine...I whispered to Claire...'Can you believe that's really you?'" 

Within minutes, I had forgotten that I was watching a girl I've been crushing on since the mid-90's, and quite simply just believed I was watching Temple.  Now, I probably watched this differently than most people will.  I watched it as the parent of an Autistic child - I felt every failure, every schoolyard taunt, and every exhilarating victory in that same vicarious way I am sure her mother experienced them.  Without the perfect portrayal of Claire Danes, this would not have been possible.

To be clear, the film wasn't preachy or over-sentimental, and that is perhaps why the payoffs packed such an emotional wallop.  I found myself tearing up and choking back sobs a half a dozen times while watching it, and no other movie or television show that features the struggles of the Autistic has ever done that to me.  I didn't feel that I was being dragged through an emotional minefield, with every shot set up to illicit some tear-jerking response.  The film was honest and stark in its portrayal, and effectively put me in Temple's head.  When she flinched away from the sound of a squeaky marker, when she stood terrified in front of a guillotine-like sliding door, I stood with her.

The difference between this movie and other movies is the same as the difference between Temple's book and other books on Autism - those other books and movies were outsider's views of Autism, while this movie and the book it is based on are insider views.  It helped me get inside the head of an Autistic person, helped me understand.

The director, Mick Jackson, did a remarkable job bringing Temple's brain to the screen, showing how she doesn't think linearly, but associatively.  When she sees her favorite horse, her mind rapidly flips through a rolodex of every single horse of that kind she has ever seen, in full color moving pictures.  When she sees a faulty gate, she doesn't see it as a whole, but as a sum of its parts, every detail apparent to her, every angle, every lever and hinge.  She can see instantly how it could be improved, building 3D models in her head, manipulating and testing them to a degree even the most sophisticated CAD program could not duplicate.  When she builds her invention, she already knows it will work because it has already gone through extensive trials - in her mind.

I told everyone I know to watch this movie, and I firmly believed that it deserved to sweep the Emmy's, especially for Claire Danes, Julia Ormand, David Strathairn, and Catherine O'Hara.

Well, I was not disappointed.  Last night, the film won seven Emmy Awards, including Director Mick Jackson, Best TV Movie, and acting honors for Danes, Ormand, and Straithairn.

Here are some clips: