Rainman is an American drama film that was released in 1988. The movie stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, a young, arrogant car salesman living in Los Angeles. Charlie has been estranged from his very wealthy father, his only relative, since he was a teen. When his father dies, Charlie returns to his childhood home in Ohio to handle his father’s affairs and to presumably collect his inheritance, which is due to come at a fortunate time for Charlie, as his business is facing some financial troubles. Charlie is quite upset to discover, however, that his father does not leave the fortune to him, but rather, to an unknown trustee. Determined to find out who has control of the fortune, Charlie’s research leads him to a hospital for the mentally ill, where he discovers that the money has been left in trust for the care of his older brother, Raymond, who lives at the facility because he has autism. Charlie is initially upset that he was never informed that he had a brother, but quickly devises a scheme to finagle his half of the inheritance.
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He leaves the facility with Raymond, and calls the hospital director and Raymond’s trustee, Dr. Bruner, and informs him that he will return Raymond for half of the money. Dr. Bruner refuses, and Charlie decides that he will obtain custody of Raymond himself, which would allow him ultimate control of the trust. Charlie sets off for LA with Raymond, and gets to know his brother -and his autism- quite well. By the time the pair reach California, Charlie has changed from a cold, calculating businessman to a man with real compassion and love for his brother. Raymond Babbit, portrayed brilliantly by actor Dustin Hoffman, is the individual in this film who presents with a communication disorder; namely, autism. While Charlie is the character who learns the lesson and changes for the better in this story, Raymond is just as significant a central character as his brother. Even though Raymond remains for the most part unchanged throughout the story – he doesn’t miraculously find a cure for his autism or somehow fix it - he is the critical impetus for growth in both his brother and in the viewer. In Rainman, Raymond’s communication disorder, together with his other autistic behaviors, is central to the plot. Much of the storyline revolves around trying to figure out what Raymond is trying to communicate. Raymond exemplifies high-functioning autism, and as such, articulates well and has no trouble reading or writing. He is superbly gifted in mathematical concepts and memorization abilities, and these savant abilities are also prominently portrayed in the film. Despite this, Raymond does display problems in the quality of his overall communication, or language. He lacks the ability to carry conversation, usually only answering questions presented him, and he often expresses his own ideas as repetitive phrases or sentence fragments. Sometimes he doesn’t …show more content…
Even though autism presents differently from person to person, nothing in Rainman seemed to be outside of the typical range of autistic behavior. I appreciate that the film resisted giving the audience a typical Hollywood “happy ending” in which the problems of autism somehow disappeared or were overcome. Instead, Raymond was showcased as a real person, with real talents, preferences and emotions, and also real life-long
He leaves the facility with Raymond, and calls the hospital director and Raymond’s trustee, Dr. Bruner, and informs him that he will return Raymond for half of the money. Dr. Bruner refuses, and Charlie decides that he will obtain custody of Raymond himself, which would allow him ultimate control of the trust. Charlie sets off for LA with Raymond, and gets to know his brother -and his autism- quite well. By the time the pair reach California, Charlie has changed from a cold, calculating businessman to a man with real compassion and love for his brother. Raymond Babbit, portrayed brilliantly by actor Dustin Hoffman, is the individual in this film who presents with a communication disorder; namely, autism. While Charlie is the character who learns the lesson and changes for the better in this story, Raymond is just as significant a central character as his brother. Even though Raymond remains for the most part unchanged throughout the story – he doesn’t miraculously find a cure for his autism or somehow fix it - he is the critical impetus for growth in both his brother and in the viewer. In Rainman, Raymond’s communication disorder, together with his other autistic behaviors, is central to the plot. Much of the storyline revolves around trying to figure out what Raymond is trying to communicate. Raymond exemplifies high-functioning autism, and as such, articulates well and has no trouble reading or writing. He is superbly gifted in mathematical concepts and memorization abilities, and these savant abilities are also prominently portrayed in the film. Despite this, Raymond does display problems in the quality of his overall communication, or language. He lacks the ability to carry conversation, usually only answering questions presented him, and he often expresses his own ideas as repetitive phrases or sentence fragments. Sometimes he doesn’t …show more content…
Even though autism presents differently from person to person, nothing in Rainman seemed to be outside of the typical range of autistic behavior. I appreciate that the film resisted giving the audience a typical Hollywood “happy ending” in which the problems of autism somehow disappeared or were overcome. Instead, Raymond was showcased as a real person, with real talents, preferences and emotions, and also real life-long