The Black Balloon [DVD]

As 50-year old parents of an 18-year Autistic son, the better half and I sat down to watch "The Black Balloon" with an open mind. She thought it was honest, true to life and moving - I thought it was brutal, clinically exploitive and deeply hurtful.

First up - Autism doesn't sell - so the cover of the DVD slyly tries to pan it off as a teenage love story - when most of movie is dominated by the lead character's Autistic brother whose inappropriate, but unintentional outbursts make life for him, his parents and their family - a living hell.

This is an Icon Production - Mel Gibson's company - and I've found his movies bludgeon you over the head in order to extract emotion. If he can't gore it up, he'll hurt it up. As other reviewers have pointed out, the brother's behaviour is wild (rubbing excrement into the carpet, punch outs at home, tantrums in supermarkets) - some of which does happen, but most doesn't. No experienced parents would take their son to such situations precisely because it will precipitate such behaviour - these film parents are conveniently clueless - and that just doesn't wash. Then there's the horrific cruelty of the Australian school kids and neighbours - again all of it so over the top as to beggar belief.

But the worst scene is after a particularly horrific home incident, the special needs brother Charlie (played by Luke Ford) supposedly apologises in sign language to his brother Thomas (played by Rhys Wakefield) - this just wouldn't happen. It is precisely because of Autism that Charlie would never make this cognitive leap - and in the real world - it's in this maddening knowledge - that lies so much hurt for siblings. Your brother doesn't progress - your sister doesn't get any better - and most people - including the authorities - couldn't give a toss. But this is a film - and after all that battering-ram stuff - the makers must offer you some hope...

Autism has been used in movies before - and to some good effect; "Mercury Rising" with Bruce Willis and most famously Dustin Hoffman as the Savant in "Rain Man". But these were simplistic versions of the condition without any of the really nasty self-injurious stuff and effect on the family. "The Black Balloon" seems to want to bludgeon you over the head with only the gross stuff- and then somehow arrive at a magical point of tolerance at the end. The real world, however, is slightly different.

It's not all grim of course - it isn't. There's a moment of extraordinary tenderness and one of the best 'growing up' sexy scenes I've ever seen. The gorgeous Gemma Ward plays Jackie (legs as long as the M1 motorway and a face the camera adores) who fancies the slightly odd she suspects brave Thomas (constantly defending his brother). Along with all the other swimmers, they are at a school safety exercise lesson lying down by the poolside; she leans over him in her dripping swimsuit to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as per her instructor. He has his eyes shut - supposedly drowned. She has to apply mouth-to-mouth - up and down - blowing in air. The way the sunlight catches her wet hair - the drops falling on him - the proximity of such loveliness - the lips that nearly touch, but can't because people are watching - it's beautifully done - really ace stuff...

Also on the up side is Luke Ford's performance as the Autistic Charlie - his mannerisms are very good and at times uncomfortably accurate - our boy displays some of the same. Erik Thompson and Toni Collette are gripping as the parents trying to cope and keep their family together.

I'm not adverse to a difficult watch worth the difficulty, but I found this movie strangely exploitive - and for all the wrong reasons. I'll admit that anything that hurts children - especially special needs children - makes me wince and rage - so perhaps my opinion of the movie simply can't be anything other than biased. My wife thought it was brilliant - finally exposing the pain and difficulty parents of special needs children have to go through. I on the other hand would smash Mel Gibson over the head with a mallet...

One review on the DVD box tells us the movie is "...life-affirming..." and "...a sheer delight..." Absolute balls.

There are those of us out there in the real world who actually have to live with - and grow old with - this maddening condition - and I wish filmakers would give that some thought from time to time.

Is it brave or is it bollox. Make up your own mind folks. As ever, one man's Heaven is....

Some reviews of this brilliant film have suggested that it's unrealistic, overly chaotic, and that Mum's (Tony Collette's)attitude is too falsly positive - wrong!!!! My autistic son is much higher functioning than Charlie in the film, and much easier to handle. BUT the day to day scenarios are spot-on accurate. Tony Collette also reflects brilliantly what it is like to be Mum to someone like Charlie. If you don't stay relentlessly positive, you'd be jumping off a bridge - you can't wallow in self-pity because the problem is just not going to go away, you've got it for life. The reflection of the sibling relationsip is also very accurate - my two daughters have a strong, affectionate, protective relationship with their brother, but society sometimes makes life as difficult for them, as it does for him.

A superbly acted film, that has been well researched, and deserved all the awards it got.

"The Black Balloon" is an Australian drama about the family and school life of a teenage boy called Thomas who has a severely autistic older brother called Charlie, a heavily-pregnant mother (played by Toni Collette, brilliantly as always), and a rather weird Army father who seems to inexplicably communicate via a teddy bear called Rex some of the time. At the start of the film the family has moved to a new house, so Thomas has the challenge of a new school in addition to this.

Most of the plot concerns his developing relationship with Jackie, a girl from school, and with him coming to terms with his brother's condition and how badly it impacts the whole family, particularly once his mother has to go into hospital on bedrest as a result of her pregnancy (Charlie requires constant supervision or poo-smearing etc is the result...). As other reviewers have said, there are pretty strong similarities to "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", but it is by no means a carbon copy (the protagonist in this film is a great deal younger than Gilbert, for a start, and whereas Gilbert's father is dead and mother isn't physically able to look after Arnie, in this movie the parents actually do the bulk of the caring, which I felt shifted the focus enough to make it distinct).

I really enjoyed the film, and felt that it was probably a pretty realistic depiction of what a young man in that family setting would go through (slightly unrealistic romance with perfect girl notwithstanding!). It was funny in parts, sad in others, and generally met my expectations of an Australian film (I like Australian films. A lot. "Amy" starring Rachel Griffiths is another very good one, as is "Cosi" with Toni Collette, although I'm not sure either are available in this country). Recommended.