Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

shannonmdavis SPOILER ALERT****************************************** I actually don't know if I give away too much but I am putting the alert here just to be safe.As a mom of a little boy with autism, I was drawn to this movie and come back again from time to time. I always cry at the end knowing that is not a reality for families with autism but wishing it could be. The school where the doctor teaches other kids is the reality I know. And the line (forgive me if it is not exact), "Here, ordinary is extraordinary" is something I think only families dealing with autism truly understand. My son and I have been working with specialists since he was just over a year old. And at 3 years and 9 months, I got my first, self-initiated "Mommy, I need a kiss." I cried with joy for days. He expressed an emotional need, self-initiated it, and said it in a sentence! You can tell when you meet people new to my son and they get so excited about the extraordinary things he can do. But like in this movie when you look at the parents and teachers working so hard, it is on the little things you take for granted. Don't get me wrong. We love the extraordinary things that make our children so special and fascinating. But when the ordinary things happen like the boy at the school hugging his mom for the first time, that is when we parents shout for joy and hoot and holler in celebration.Dealing with a child with autism is like putting together a giant puzzle with infinite pieces. If you like the thrill of figuring things out, then it is great because the puzzle never ends...it just develops into a clearer picture the more you can fit things together. And since the number of pieces are infinite, you don't get a neat little picture on the box that lets you know exactly how things should look and you work towards that. Nope, that kind of puzzle is for amateurs. With autism, you study the pieces as they fit together and learn how they relate to one another and get glimpses of what a bigger picture may look like. But you know at any time one section of the puzzle may elude you completely while another section starts coming together quickly, making sense out of the patterns. And what you get is an ever-growing and changing picture of who that child is.

piquichi This movie is very interesting to watch and the characters are well-acted by Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones. The little girl is very convincing as well. It's a good movie, but people should know: this is not about autism.I have an autistic daughter. Even in regressive autism, which is not that common, you don't just become autistic through emotional trauma, as this movie suggests. And you don't just stop talking one day. It's a progressive or, rather, regressive thing. And regressive autism takes place about age 2-3, not age 6. Her seeming imperviousness to danger is autistic-like and the screams when things change is something that can happen, but please don't come away from this movie thinking this is what autism is.Many autistic children are not silent and do interact or try to. Take note of the scenes at the school with real autistic children to get a somewhat better picture.This movie is more about emotional trauma than autism. Leading the viewer to believe otherwise is a tragic disservice. But what's worse is then leading the viewer to believe simple psychological intervention will "fix" autism.The one good thing is that the movie shows autistics to be bright and very creative. If you want to learn something about autism, learn that.

ratty-3 I am the father who wrote the original comments criticizing this movie for its use of autism. To address those who have said, sometimes rather heatedly, that it is obvious that the girl is NOT autistic and anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish (or at least has a short attention span) please consider this:If it were obvious from the beginning of the movie that the girl is suffering from an odd denial response brought on by a shaman's comments, and not an identifiable disorder, then the bulk of the movie would be meaningless. What would be the point of all the medical scenes with the use of apparently handicapped (including autistic) children if the viewer already "knows" the girl's problem?The girl displays very striking features of childhood autism, so on what basis is it reasonable that the mother should resist treatment? You can say: "you see, it wasn't really autism," but as a simple dramatic point they don't give anyone but the guileless moviegoer any reason to think otherwise.People with handicapped children often wish that anyone giving them bad news is wrong, and that there is a simple "magic" cure for their child's disorder, and so the movie unintentionally gives very bad advice.I feel it is shameful for the movie makers to have used a disability and disabled people as props for a feelgood story that denies reality as much as the little girl does.

bridget-amarant I absolutely loved this movie. It is so different than any other movie I've seen (and I've seen plenty!). People who commented on this movie say that its not reality-that they didn't go into certain aspects of the "problems" at hand in the movie...well, that's what movies are all about. They take you to a different dimension that's not of this world. And this movie deals with taking us to a different world of a child going into a different world. And that, everyone, is what it's all about. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who doesn't want to see the same storyline used in 90% of all movies today, with a touch of dreamscape, and a whole lot of heart. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as usual, as well as Kathleen Turner. WATCH IT!