Kate Tanner

August 6, 2014
Prof. Davis
Final Analysis
Rain Man Creates Autism Awareness

We hear a lot about autism nowadays. We all know of somebody who has a
friend or relative that has or is affected by autism in one way or another. In 1988,
we didnt know as much. Autism was something we may have heard of, but really
didnt understand it. In December of 1988, Rain Man was released, directed by Barry
Levinson and starring the red hot Tom Cruise and the magnificent Dustin Hoffman.
Hoffman played Raymond Babbitt, an autistic savant that had been living in an
institution for over 20 years. Cruise portrayed his younger brother, Charlie, who had
just learned that he had a brother when his fathers will left a $3 million trust fund
to Raymond.
The film portrays Raymond as an exceptional thinker that can calculate
anything instantly, who can only operate on the strictest of schedules and knows
and memorizes statistics of just about anything. Experts will tell you that this type of
autistic savant is rare and that there are many autistic people in the world today
that are very different than the role that Hoffman played. But what the movie did
was introduce autism to millions of people and raise the awareness that there are
people that use their minds quite differently. Suz Baumann, co-founder of the
Central Florida Chapter of the Autism Society of America, was quoted as saying,
This one movie has created more media attention than our national and local
autistic organizations have been able to do in 25 years. (orlandosentinel.com; Rain
Man Puts Autism on the Map, Agnes Torres Al-Shabibi, 12/22/88)
The media attention would not have been so great were it not for the
amazing performances of both Hoffman and Cruise. Both actors had been cast in the
roles for over a year. However, a director could not be found that was willing to take
on the material. Martin Brest (Beverly Hills Cop) and Steven Spielberg (Raiders of
the Lost Ark, E.T.) both passed on the project. Barry Levinson finally agreed after
learning of the 13 months of research Hoffman had put into his character. But he
knew that it would be a challenge. The movie would have to focus on the changes
other people, notably Charlie, would be forced to make, because Raymond was
unable to. Levinson said, Raymond is going to be Raymond; Raymond doesnt
change. Somebody who is autistic doesnt suddenly become another person. He is
who he is. (nytimes.com; On The Road with Hoffman & Cruise, Donald Chase,
12/11/88)
The movie went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture as
well as Best Actor for Dustin Hoffman. In my opinion, Tom Cruise was equally
deserving of the honor for showing the struggles that learning to deal with people
that think on a different level can impose. The great critic Roger Ebert, in his review
of the film, said, If fiction is about change, then how can you make a movie about a
man who cannot change? The changes in the movie all belong to Charlie, who begins
the film as a me-first materialist. By the end, Charlie has learned how to pay
attention, how to listen and how to be at least a little patient some of the time.
(rogerebert.com/reviews/rain-man-1988; Roger Ebert, 12/16/88)
We see Charlies growing frustration throughout the first 2/3 of the film.
Raymond wont fly because all airlines have crashed at one time or another, he
wont drive on the highway because of traffic accidents, he wont eat his pancakes
unless the syrup is on the table before the pancakes arrive. As Charlie counters
these issues with arguments and yelling, he begins to realize, he cant change
Raymond. Finally, Charlie looks at Raymond and says, I know youre in there
somewhere! Hes right, he just cant do anything about it except learn how to deal
with it.
In Vincent Canbys review from The New York Times, he states Raymond
remains pretty much the same exotic creature from the beginning to the end. He
cant change in any important measure. He can only reveal additional aspects of
himself as the movie goes along. (nytimes.com: Vincent Canby, 12/16/88) We
begin to see Charlies patience coming through as he sees how angry he has been his
entire life and when he finally realizes he has a responsibility to his brother that
outweighs his own desires. He begins making small connections, one at a time. In
short, he begins to care more for his brother than he does for himself. This
morning, we had pancakes. As he says this to the lawyer assigned to make a
custody decision, you can see in Charlies eyes that he knows how important that
one small connection is, even though the lawyer has no idea. In that scene, we see
the transformation in Charlie, and the lawyer seems to take on the self centered
character that Charlie was.
Rain Man began a trend in films over the next 10 years that began to portray
disabled people in a different light, as well as earn some more Best Actor wins and
nominations. Scent of a Woman featured Al Pacino as a blind man, My Left Foot
starred Daniel Day-Lewis as a paraplegic, Robert DeNiro played a man with
Parkinsons-like symptoms, and of course we are all familiar with Tom Hanks
portrayal of slow witted Forrest Gump. These films dont always answer all of the
questions, and they dont always represent things in the most realistic manner, but
they do create awareness. That is the first step towards making a change, as Charlie
Babbitt can attest to.