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Autism Major 
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NOTES |
A guy has a
28 year old sister who he has kept secret from |
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his
colleagues and friends. "She's different". She's been in |
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special care
but the home is closing down and he is the |
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We are told
by the doctor that she has mental retardation, |
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perhaps
autistic and needs to follow a routine. She also has |
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very acute
hearing common to many autistic people. |
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He is
reluctant to bring her home because it will mess up his |
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work and
social life. And the first thing she does when he |
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gets her
home is wet herself (because of the change in |
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routine). It
is at this point as he is waryly trying to change her |
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Then he
tries (unsuccessfully) to enrol her in a scheme which |
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is actually
for children. So he takes her along to a |
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conference
(he is somekind of advertising exec). You know of course she
is going to embarrass him but you would never |
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guess how
unless the name Elizabeth Shue clicks in your |
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mind. Oh,
yes she takes off all her clothes and walks into the |
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He loses his
job, his girlfriend, people in his local supermarket complain
about her. |
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Then a guy
with learning difficulties who was at the home with |
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Molly turns
up. This character is particularly difficult to come |
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to terms
with because he appears to work at the home and |
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later at the
lab and shows no signs of learning difficulties. |
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He suggests
Molly might be suitable for a project which might |
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Molly has
tests to guage her suitability including a brain scan. |
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The project
is to transplant genetically re-engineered cells into her brain
which will hopefully restore her brain to partial |
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neurisation.
The doctor mumbles this last bit (deliberately I |
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should
think) so I can't be sure I've transcribed it right. |
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The
operation we are told goes O.K. but just when the brother |
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visits Molly
in hospital she has a fit. Something apparently |
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didn't
'take' so the doctors want to try again. He rejects this. |
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However
after a while Molly starts to become alert, speaks |
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normally and
reads lots of books (including Robinson Crusoe, this is a favourite
text for those moving from the slow to the
fast lane of learning).
She reads all this stuff but doesn't know that brothers and
sisters don't get married (despite their being obviously a well
matched couple :-). And she dresses inappropriately
suggesting that books can't teach you everything. At a
performance of Romeo and Juliet she takes Juliet's suicide
literally and leaps onto the stage.
The brother exclaims "She's wonderful".
Now for the rub. The problem is that her immune system is
attacking the transplant which may mean a reversal (you can
bet on it). In a nice touch she forgets how to ride a bi-cycle.
But of course she declaims that she's "just as much a
person". And big brother has now come around to this view
and instead of her going into an institution he makes a home
from home for her at his pad.
This film is not "Rainman" or "Charly" or even "The Other
Sister". It is a variation on Flowers for Algernon but sadly
Shue is awful especially at the beginning. There are some
roles some actors cannot play even good actors e.g. Clint
Eastwood cannot mimic John Huston in "White Hunter, Black
Heart". And the other actors are simply turning up for work.
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Notes
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