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Temple Grandin ~ A Movie Review by Tillie Tice, President, Board of Directors The Educational Center

Directed by Mick Jackson, Produced by Christopher Monger & Emily Gerson Saines

Released in 2010 for HBO, available through NetFlix, 2 Hours duration

Winner Primetime Emmy Award; Creative Arts Emmy Awards; Golden Globe;

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Temple Grandin is Claire Danes' remarkable portrayal of one woman's journey learning to accommodate and manage autism and sensory perception issues. It is also a story of Eustacia Grandin, Temple's upper-class mother played by Julia Ormond, who refuses to release her daughter to ill-advised recommendations from medical professionals and educators, each giving voice to their belief there is no beneficial pathway for Temple through the maze of her deficiencies. Eustacia is torn between her fears of inadequacy as a mother and angry frustration at her daughter's situation.

The movie is a captivating true story of unyielding determination, grit and pure stubbornness against what seems to be insurmountable odds. An underlying theme of the film reveals the existential power within supportive family members, teachers and others to nurture transformation within this young woman; to aid in the development of confidence and trust and letting go of control; to open closed doorways exposing unlimited possibilities.

Temple did not speak until she was three years old. She exhibited an inability to tolerate variation of routine, new experiences, loud noises or being physically touched. Her perception of language was limited to literal translations, and she consistently failed to demonstrate normal anticipated responses or emotions. She was confusing to, and subsequently rejected by, most people.

Eustacia was determined that Temple would attend schools and social activities as is perceived normal for most children. Temple's repeated lack of success and rejections is exasperating for her mother. Aunt Ann, played by Catherine O'Hara, Eustacia's sister who lives on a ranch in Texas, takes Temple in the summertime to live with her thus providing relief for Eustacia. It is on the ranch that Temple's brilliance begins to become apparent, and there she discovers "home". She exhibits a genius' ability for construction and geometric computation; she seems to have a peculiar gift which allows her to enter the minds of the horse and cattle population of the ranch. When summer ends, Temple doesn't want to return East to begin Hampshire Country School, but her mother will not be swayed. It is at this school that Temple encounters Dr. Carlock, played by David Strathairn, who sees and nurtures in Temple her mathematic and scientific abilities.

From this background Temple dares to take competent charge of her education and her life moving with purpose towards independent brilliant successful highly achieving work as a change-agent for the management of large animals.

The film offers dramatic insight into the world of Autism, Aspergers, and similar disabilities of perception and function. It shines a light on the importance of finding ways to sustain open corridors for these individuals to discover their own pathway "home".

Questions for you to consider:

Where do you see individuals who seem strange or abnormal because of disability, race, education, limited financial resources or other constraints?

Who are their advocates? What access do they have to advocates, services and exposures?

What are the forces that contribute to isolation of some individuals, or groups of people, in settings which limit their personal achievements and positive sense of Self?

Where have you seen someone you know accomplish amazing achievements against huge odds? What kinds of relationships nurtured the individual's personal and professional growth?

What do you know about your own personal disabilities?

What are the constraints or boundaries which inhibit your growth and achievements?

What do you need to do if you are to break out and discover your own pathway "home"? What kinds of resources might you need to put in place?

The Artist – a movie review by Cathia Friou

Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius.

Released in 2011 by the Weinstein Company.

At its simplest, The Artist is a silent movie about silent movies. Though not completely silent throughout, it is also a story about the pain of letting go and a facilitated resurrection.

George Valetin (played by Jean Dujardin) is your basic charming narcissist who has no sense that he will ever age out of the movie star spotlight. As master of the universe with the adoration of his fans and his omnipresent (if not omniscient) dog, it appears George is unstoppable. That is, until the rise of "talkies."

Convinced that talking films are just a passing fad, George starts his own silent movie production company and occupies the starring role there as well. (It brings to mind a lawyer representing himself and having a fool for a client.) In a telling scene in which his flop of a movie has the handsome star drowning in quicksand, we sense what's coming his way off-camera.

Enter stage right, his peppy paramour, Peppy Miller (played by Berenice Bejo). Even as her star is ascending, she saves George from himself on more than one occasion and orchestrates a stellar comeback for him. Pitiless, she does this from a growth mindset that he lacks and all in the name of enduring love.

It is not so much George's struggle with letting go and the predictable fall that interests me, but his unusual resurrection. His rock bottom moment comes when he has a thwarted brush with death and the movie ends with a totally revived and reinvented man, all a la Peppy. I question whether and how much another person can facilitate our resurrection. I would have thought it a wholly personal and solo endeavor, and yet the tidy ending of the two of them (audibly) tap dancing off into a sunny future leaves me wondering...and also curiously hopeful.

Questions to consider:

What does rock bottom feel like, and is hitting it a requirement for finally letting go of an old story?

What do you know of trusting the cycle of endings?

When have you been stripped of your identity and/or a known future? How tirelessly did you seek to recover it?

When have you refused help from a loved one out of pride, pain or paralyzing fear?

Does resurrection "count" any less if facilitated by another?

How do you know when to let go of a resurrection story that isn't your own?

Take Shelter—a movie review by Kathie Collins

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols

Winner of the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prize 2011

When storm clouds build in a film (or in life), we know something is up. Just not what, precisely where the havoc will strike, how long it might last, or how extensive the damage might be. Mother Nature's wild card, a storm is an unpredictable phenomenon whether it is meteorological, political, psychic, or some powerful combination of all these forces. We prepare as fully as possible based on the risk we can foresee, and then pray for the best. Mostly we come through okay—repair the damage and move on. The problem of course—or maybe the beauty—is that some of us are capable of foreseeing the worst possible kind of storms.

Such is the case in Take Shelter for Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon)—a working class husband and father simultaneously struggling to make ends meet and make sense of the horrific dreams and strange delusions that have begun to brew in what was once his "good life" in a small Ohio town. Conscious of a family history of schizophrenia, Curtis is unsure whether his visions of apocalyptic doom are symptoms of the disease taking hold in him, or premonitions of a real event that will tear the world apart. Neither are viewers sure.

Director Jeff Nichols steadily builds that question, allowing viewers to be sucked into the vortex of Curtis's storm-centered energy. The lulls within the film and Curtis's life, which heighten his inner turmoil and a growing apocalyptic tension, become fewer and farther between as his panic about the impending storm focuses his attention on preparation. Since Curtis doesn't know whether his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and six-year-old deaf daughter Hannah are better served by a storm shelter or his receipt of therapy, he attempts to attack his problem from both angles, all the while keeping his deepening sense of doom and panic from his family and friends. And, for a while, it seems that Curtis, a humble but bright crew chief for a sand-mining company, just might be able to hold such tension, drilling into the earth's depths by day while withstanding and adapting to the horrors that arise from the depths of his unconscious by night.

Shannon is superb in his ability to demonstrate the intricacy, paralyzing fear, and paradox of Curtis's condition. Chastain is also convincing as a wife torn between her devotion to the husband she loves but no longer understands and fear for her own and her daughter's futures. And Nichols is to be commended for combining such polished performances with equally well-polished special effects, which are at times subtle and at others quite spectacular, into a work of art that aptly conveys the sublime—a horrible beauty that can sometimes exist at the intersection of life's inner and outer weather.

Questions to consider:

What are the storms for which you spend your life preparing?

What various forces combine to form these storms?

Who or what in your history makes you sensitive to these particular storms?

Who or what must you protect from these storms?

What are the shelters you build? Who helps you to build them? How do you explain them to others? To yourself?

What life might you miss while you focus on building and taking shelter?

How are you, like Curtis, stoic in your ability to endure the wild winds alone?

Who are those you might finally trust with the terrible visions that appear as symptoms of both your inner and the world's outer weather?

Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna) ~   a movie review by The Rev. Joseph Clark, Educational Center Board Member

Director: Patricia Riggen

Writer: Ligiah Villalobos

Starring: Eugenio Derbez, Kate del Castillo and Adrian Alonso

Release Date: 2007

Running Time: 105 minutes

Language: English / Spanish

Midnight in Paris ~ a movie review by The Rev. Courtney Davis Shoemaker*

Year of Release: 2011

Director: Woody Allen

Film Company: Sony Classics

Main Actors: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates

This romantic comedy is a wonderful ticket to Paris and much more. Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) travel to Paris with Inez's wealthy parents who are there for business. Gil is working on his first novel and loves to find inspiration in all that he sees as they roam the streets of the city taking in the sights, sounds and of course, the food. Gil and Inez run into another American couple that Inez likes very much but whom Gil finds insufferable. One evening the couple invites Gil and Inez to go dancing and while Inez quickly accepts, Gil complains that he isn't feeling well. Once they go on their way, Gil decides to take a walk back to the hotel but gets lost. As he sits on some stairs to clear his mind, an antique car pulls up and some party goers invite Gil to join them. He agrees and finds himself transported back to the 1920s. Soon he is surrounded by Cole Porter (Yves Heck), Josephine Baker (Sonia Rolland), and Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Allison Pill and Tom Hiddleston).

When Gil leaves the bar he finds himself transported back to 2010 but in the evenings to come he always finds himself back on the stairs and the car will come to pick him up, taking him back to the 1920s where he meets Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll) and Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) among others.

Meanwhile, Inez and her parents have no idea where Gil goes each evening. Gil attempts to live both in 2010 and in the 1920s, but it becomes increasingly difficult and hilarities ensue. The people he meets in the 1920s stimulate, excite and inspire him, and he even meets a beautiful young woman, Adriana, and begins to fall in love. But the past and the present cannot meet, and Gil grows more and more confused.

This romantic comedy is a treat for anyone who has longed for days that have passed but lives in the reality of the present.

Some Questions to Consider:

If you could travel back in time, what period would you like to visit and why?

What is it that you long for in that time period that you feel is lacking in the world today?

Do you resonate with Gil's character or another character in the film? Why or why not?

What does this film say about the past and the present?

* Courtney generously served on The Educational Center's Board of Directors from 2009-2011.  She  was Assistant  to the Rector at  St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Lynn, MA and has recently relocated to Burlington, NC.

The First Grader ~ A Movie Review by Page Leggett

Director: Justin Chadwick ~ National Geographic Entertainment ~ 2011

If you've forgotten what an honor it is to learn and be taught by a capable, nurturing teacher, The First Grader may be the reminder you need. As we see in the film, when the concept of education is a novelty and not a birthright, the excitement of learning is elevated to something akin to joy.

The movie tells the true story of Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an 84-year-old illiterate, former member of an African tribe who was imprisoned, tortured and mutilated as he fought the British for his homeland's independence. He had everything taken from him -- which we witness in violent flashbacks -- and now he asks only for his government to provide him with the dignity that comes with being able to read.

When the Kenyan government promises free education for all, Maruge shows up at the one-room, made-of-sticks, village schoolhouse. The school can't accommodate all the six-, seven- and eight-year olds who are eager to learn, much less a man with one foot in the grave. He's politely turned away, but he returns the next day ... and the next. Local school officials and, later, the government are outraged that the little school would give up valuable space to an old man that, they say, should be given to a child. And, they begin to make life very difficult for the brave, beautiful teacher, Jane (Naomie Harris), who has accepted Maruge into her classroom.

All of us are first graders at different points in our lives. Our "classroom" may not be as primitive as the make-shift schoolhouse we see in this film, but we can still identify with Maruge on his first day of school. I was a student one recent Saturday morning, and my classroom was inside a Verizon store. There were about 20 of us inside that classroom, all desperate to learn how to use the new contraptions we had purchased.

Far from feeling honored at having access to such a wondrous thing as an Android and having someone willing to come to work early to teach me how to use it, I felt frustrated and a bit like a relic. I liked my easy-to-use flip phone that could dial out and receive calls and didn't come with a camera, camcorder and other gizmos I neither need nor want.

I still haven't even mastered the basics, but I learn a little more about my phone each day. And, I've grown to appreciate all it can do for me. I'm not as fast or as confident as the kids who've grown up with this technology, but I'm proud of myself for the baby steps I'm taking. When I saw Maruge's broad smile as he sounded out the simplest words -- cat, bat, mat -- I knew the feeling. I smiled to myself when I first figured out how to answer an incoming call.

The First Grader drags in places and is too shamelessly grabby for our emotions in others. Key characters (Jane's husband and a menacing parent of a school boy, for instance) are underdeveloped. But, Maruge's insistence on his right to an education and his morphing from an awkward octogenarian to a willing pupil and capable teacher of these young children, is beautiful to behold. The film means well and does what it sets out to do -- uplifts us -- so it's easy to forgive its few flaws.

 "JANE EYRE" a movie review by Tim Martin

Jane Eyre is set in the darkness of the early 19th century in Northern England. Our protagonist, Jane Eyre, following the death of her parents, is beset at an early age with a difficult life, afflicted by an oppressive patriarchy and a stern and restrictive religion. The darkness of this period and of her life, which is portrayed beautifully in the film, is pervasive. The emotional assault against her person and her self-esteem are relentless as she moves from an unloving guardian in Aunt Reed, to the shameful and austere Lowood School. Against this stark and punishing environment, Jane Eyre cannot be broken. She presents a worthy protagonist, remaining throughout fully true to herself.

Simply, Jane's life wasn't fair. A steadfast survivor, she never asked for what was not attainable to her – just a simple existence, with hard work, simple surroundings – and importantly – a world that would treat her with kindness and as much equality as was possible for the times. But, she never wilted. Armed with a blunt honesty and emotional resolve, she finally created a simple life for herself as a governess to a difficult master, Rochester. Somehow, through the class distinction and his thorny personality, Rochester, along with the viewer, can see beyond Jane's plain exterior – and sees the beauty inside. Even for those of us who haven't read this classic, the film foreshadows that Rochester carries a secret, and we suspect that the plot's path will not be an easy one, but will lead to dire consequences for our main characters.

Seeking total equality was not an option for Jane in this place time and place – and she never demanded a privileged or lofty existence. She wished to live honestly, simply, as an equal, if not in law or property, then in spirit. Much like the message of Forrest Gump, the significance of Jane Eyre teaches us that honesty, love, and steadfastness can trump the privilege of birth. Like isn't perfect for Jane – nor for most of us – and the movie does not present a fairy tale. But, in the end love triumphs – and the darkness that covered Jane's life is finally overcome. Jane Eyre presents an unlikely romance – of love despite its struggles, honesty in the face of convention, and finally, light in the midst of darkness. Jane Eyre is a film worth seeing.

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