Movie Review of "Temple Grandin"

Autism may never be understood, but every bit and piece of this mystery that is unraveled, gives us a better understanding of the world these people live in. Enter HBO'S "Temple Grandin" as it explores the life of the woman who gave autism the "different, but not less" label.

"Temple Grandin" chronicles the life of the woman who overcame the physical and mental obstacles of autism to become an expert in the field of animal husbandry (in her case, the treatment of cattle going to the slaughterhouse). The real-life Grandin (played by an Emmy deserved Clair Danes) later went on to become a top writer and lecturer on what it means to be autistic. Grandin is currently a professor at Colorado State University.

After watching the movie, I came away with a better understanding of autism. When the movie "Rain Man" came out, autistic people were stereotyped by the behavior of the main character (Dustin Hoffman). But there is much more to autism than simply being a savant with odd idiosyncrasies. There are many degrees of autism; some of which make the person dysfunctional, others which give the individual genius status: All of which give the individual a different perspective of the world. In Grandin's case see saw the world through images of symmetry, which gave her the ability to build things. With possession of a photographic mind, she was able to solve real life problems using a built-in geometric ability. To her, geometry was not abstract, but instead a concrete concept (I guesss you will have to see the movie).

Give credit to HBO for once again raising the bar for a cutting edge movie.

My rating: five out five stars.