Review of Billy the Kid: An Asperger's Syndrome Documentary Movie

I want to tell you why I recommend watching the Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie called Billy The Kid, which has won many film prizes, including The Jury Prize Winner at the L.A. Film Festival and Best Documentary Winner at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2007. This Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie called Billy The Kid focuses on the life of a teenager with this condition, and I watched this movie with great interest, since I myself, have this condition. Here's more about Billy The Kid, the Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie that runs about 85 minutes in length and is directed by Jennifer Venditti. It's currently available for purchase on DVD!

Note that I will also use the term "Aspies" in this article, which refers to those who have Asperger's Syndrome (AS), which happens to also be called Asperger Syndrome.

While the feature film on DVD never specifically identifies Billy's condition, a New York Times article verifies that he indeed does have Asperger's Syndrome, as well as in the director's interview in the DVD. Venditti discusses Billy's Asperger's Syndrome, but didn't mention it in the DVD movie feature because she's wary of labels on people, and didn't want viewers to have this "us vs. them" attitude nor have parents diagnosing their kids using her film. She took the reference out after the early showings of the movie at theaters as I understood her in the interview.

The Tone of the Asperger's Syndrome-Themed Documentary Movie Billy The Kid

The first ten minutes of this film really sets the stage as we the viewers get to see Billy, who seemingly looks like a typical teenage boy, walking through the halls of his school, eating, walking around town, riding his bike, playing a video arcade game, and eating some McD's on a bench...all alone in his town of Lisbon Falls, Maine. Yes, this is what life is mostly like for Billy and many others who have Asperger's Syndrome, a neuro-biological condition on the autism spectrum that affects how one relates to other people, especially in reading of social cues and nuances of others, generally setting the Aspie apart from society.

Yet despite the fact that Billy is not popular with his peers, he does continually try to reach out in his own way despite his basically futile efforts to connect. There's a moving scene where he's in a pool hall with some other teenagers, and he initiates interaction with them about pool and other things, but he's blown off as if he's basically not there. Two of the conversational branches that he uses to try to relate to others is through talking about horror movies or classic hard rock music, especially of KISS, who he finds much solace and refuge in throughout the movie. I myself can relate to that aspect, because I feel often that the characters I see in movies or television have been better friends to me than the people I've come into contact with, and so I often quote them and think about them.

Billy also has a very romanticized view of women, partly because of his mother Penny, who acts as his number one cheerleader and advisor on the matters of life, including on how to deal with girls and the painful feelings of romantic yearning and social rejection he experiences. She's was in an abusive marriage with Billy's drunken and drug-addicted father, who also stole when he drove a truck. But as far as females are concerned, Penny is his only real feminine refuge as girls his age also disregard him. Ironically, Billy retreats often into a world of fantasy where he gets to be the superhero who saves what he calls "damsels". Billy is shown to be reading Harry Potter books, but stirred up concern in town when he checked out some books about serial and spree killers, who he empathizes with because they were abused by their parents, though he himself doesn't seem that prone to violence.

Romance Is Involved in the Asperger's Syndrome-Themed Documentary Movie Billy The Kid

One of the big aspects of this Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie called Billy The Kid involves his interest in a socially unadept but pretty girl named Heather, who is one year older than him (16). He makes all the moves to court her as she's working in one of the town's local diners, again using his love for horror and other kinds of movies as well as classic hard rock music to break the ice with Heather, who has a very protective grandmother. Over a short time, it seems that he's making headway, but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking to myself that he was going to get burned (because of my own experiences). Now, I'm not going to tell you how far he gets, but I must say that I really admire how he tries to make something romantically happen for himself, especially when we hear earlier about how his first romantic interest, a popular cheerleader, blasted him in public when Billy told her how he felt about her, and continued to abuse him until he mooned her!

As many of these scenes of interacting with others were playing out in this Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie called Billy The Kid, I saw much of my own existence being flashed in front of my face, and I felt very uncomfortable at times. But I kept watching, because the power of cinema and other arts isn't to just tickle our senses. No, it makes us look at ourselves to get new insights and/or to re-examine ourselves.

Billy The Kid is an Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie that is shot really crisp and direct via its cinematography, which helps give the film a sense of direction about how Asperger's Syndrome affects the Aspie's way of seeing the world and how the world responds to the Aspie. Even as an Aspie myself, I was at times a bit put off by the way he would walk around like a ghoul...yes, very congenially-like, but still ghoulish at times. Even as he was trying to relate to people, I could tell he was still partly in his own world to where it was hard to get a full grasp on him.

This 15 year old kid who has Asperger's Syndrome is shown to get really frustrated at times over things that non-Aspies would take more in stride, which is one aspect of the condition that he and I both share in common. From personal experience, I can attest to this because we Aspies have this sense of order about us, and when things get out of order, it can be hard to deal with, as was the case when one of Billy's pictures went missing from his classroom. His school system doesn't have all the great resources to help him to the max, but it tolerates him being there at least, and helped keep him from being institutionalized when he was younger when he started exhibiting Asperger's Syndrome-type behaviors more abrasively like having bad temper tantrums.

The Asperger's Syndrome-Themed Documentary Movie Billy The Kid Is Hopeful

I'm not going to tell you the end of the movie, but what it does say in general is that no matter what has happened to Billy, his attitude is to go on and face the future head on in a rather positive way. When I was his age, my attitude was totally different after all the rejection I experienced "aided" by my Asperger's Syndrome condition. Yet even I've managed to survive somehow, though I often ask myself "Why?". I think Billy's attitude is more of "Why not?"!

This was a very compelling Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie for me to watch, because I re-lived some of my own experiences through his experiences of being there amongst the other humans, yet not being there. That's what this condition is often about: it's as if you're invisible to the non-Aspies in the world unless you do something that's open to scorn. When you try to fit in or reach out, it's mostly a waste of time. As a fifteen-year old kid that's full of hormones, I think he's shown a quite a reserve and has been a good sport about his struggles to fit in and have the common experiences he's sees his peers having en masse.

People who have Asperger's Syndrome or parents of children with this condition (or who exhibit Aspie tendencies) aren't going to get a clinical type of film where every aspect of Asperger's Syndrome is covered. What we see mostly manifested in this Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie Billy The Kid is how his condition affects his social interactions, especially with his peers and mother, and how KISS music and fantasy are two of his refuges for dealing with the harsh realities of his life.

I recommend this film for all movie fans because watching it may inspire one to be more open to accepting others who come across differently. This film puts out that moral with a nicely-flowing narrative that never gets slow or boring. It shows in graphic detail what it feels like to be "be there, yet not be there" amongst the crowd.

More About the Asperger's Syndrome-Themed Documentary Movie Billy The Kid

The DVD includes an interesting interview with the director Jennifer Venditti concerning her thoughts about making Billy The Kid, as well as over 22 minutes of bonus footage not shown in the feature (called Pieces That Don't Fit) that gives more insights as to Billy's outlook on life, which isn't always as hopeful as the feature film mostly illustrated. He has fears just like everybody else, Aspie or not.

Billy The Kid is an Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie that can be purchased at physical store or online retailing sites like Amazon.com or Zeitgeist Films. For more information about this Asperger Syndrome-themed documentary movie, go to the website for Billy The Kid.

And to read about my personal experiences with Asperger's Syndrome, go to these two Associated Content articles at this link and this link.

Online sources for my Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie review for Billy The Kid:

Dennis Lim, It's His World; She Was Just Filming It:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/movies/09lim.html, December 9, 2007, The New York Times

Zeitgeist Films: www.zeitgeistfilms.com

Billy The Kid website: http://www.billythekiddocumentary.com/

Billy The Kid (2007): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0971160/fullcredits#cast, The Internet Movie Database

More online sources for my Asperger's Syndrome-themed documentary movie review for Billy The Kid:

Roy Barnes, Top 10 Songs by KISS: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1348824/top_10_songs_by_kiss.html?cat=33, Associated Content

Roy Barnes, Living with Asperger Syndrome on a Daily Basis: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/50207/living_with_asperger_syndrome_on_a.html?cat=5, Associated Content

Roy Barnes, My Asperger Syndrome Hurdle, My Travel Successes: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/46846/my_asperger_syndrome_hurdle_my_travel.html?cat=5, Associated Content