The film is a documentary which follows the mother (Margrét Dagmar Ericsdóttir) of an autistic boy, as she interviews experts and other parents of autistic children, while trying to find some way of improving her son Keli's life. The film does a good job of mixing educational material with more personal stories so that it doesn't devolve into information overload. It's shot beautifully, especially the scenes showing the family exploring various Icelandic landscapes. As an added bonus, the film uses songs by Sigur Rós as background music throughout; they're one of my favourite bands and I thought the music suited the movie well.
To me, the driving force of the film is Margrét's desire to get to know her son. Keli's autism is quite severe and he is non-verbal, so I believe that the family saw him, understandably, in terms of his disorder, rather than who he was as a person. As she meets other families who have been able to learn to communicate with their autistic kids, she starts to hope for the same thing with Keli, and this hope transfers to the viewer.
Margrét eventually chooses to explore a teaching and communication technique called Rapid Prompting Method (RPM). The method was developed by a woman named Soma Mukhopadhyay to communicate with her own autistic son, and involves the child spelling out words by pointing at a board with letters on it. (It's more complicated than that, but that is the ultimate goal that they work towards.)
This is where my feelings got a little ambiguous. I'm a skeptic at heart, and I began to doubt the authenticity of RPM and the letter board technique. In all the scenes where they showed the kids "speaking" with the letter board, Soma is holding the board. It almost seems as if she is moving the board as much as the kids are pointing to it. How much is Soma leading it or at least anticipating what the kids are going to say? Is she using the film to sell her method by making it look more effective than it really is?
My ambivalence and doubt reached its peak in one scene which could be considered the climax of the movie. We see Keli talking with Soma through the letter board while Margrét watches. The scene is either one of the most moving scenes I've seen in a while, or a somewhat exploitative fabrication, depending on whether I believe that RPM is what it claims to be.
I have been swinging back and forth between these two positions since I saw the film. When I was sitting, watching in the theatre, I had on my skeptical hat and was dismissive of the scene. However, when I got home and lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I thought back to it and changed my mind a little. There certainly is a lot of power in the words that Keli says, which, when coupled with the Sigur Rós song (Ára bátur) playing in the background, brought me close to tears just from thinking about it. (I won't reveal what he says because I think it needs to be experienced by watching the film.)
In the end, though, I don't believe that there's any black and white way of judging a teaching system or technique, and I'm sure that it works better for some people than others. My skepticism doesn't take away from what I think is the main message of the film: that autistic kids are capable of more than their condition would seem to allow on the surface, and that there is hope for reaching them through various techniques. Whether or not I fully buy into RPM in particular, the film is very informative and thought-provoking.
3.5 out of 5
The Sunshine Boy is such an inspiration to all children – dare I say, adults, with autism. I applaud the film makers for their ability to make a documentary not only very informative, but also moving. Something many documentaries lack. I am a mother of a non-verbal son with autism, and I know how misunderstood they are. It is a shame that due to our lack of ability to find a communication mode and their lack of motor skills, that the world so badly misinterprets these people. I find HOPE in this movie that everyone will soon understand the intelligence of our children/adults.
ReplyDeleteI also understand your skepticism about RPM, I too was skeptical when I first started using RPM with my son. However, I remember the defining moment – about a year after we started training: Our family was on the way to church and my son kept pulling off his shoes and crying. He did not want to go and I wasn’t about to let him get out of it. I put back on his shoes and told him we were going. After going back and forth like this several times, I finally gave him his letterboard to tell me why he didn’t want to go. He pointed out his answer, “big rock in my shoe.” I never doubted again. As a side note, he is a teenager now and has been known to yell at me on his letterboard. I have to keep from smiling He is learning his independent typing on a computer (the keyboard is not held and his body is not touched) and is doing very well.
I appreciate your review of The Sunshine Boy and my only hope is that all who watch it can be as open-minded as to their intelligence as you are.