My current fav is "Oh Brother, Where art thou"

Why?  Because I love the music and the characters.  From Everett to the shady politicians, Bible salesman, lots of unique personalities in this wonderful romp across the dust bowl.

Loving Lampposts; Living Autistic

“Loving Lampposts; Living Autistic” shines light on dark fears about Autism

A documentary film by Todd Drezner available on dvd.

Cinema Libre Studio

$19.95

83  minutes

UPC 881394111721

Genre:  Documentary, Autism

This interesting documentary introduces the journey parents go through when their child is diagnosed with autism, and also through interviews with various experts, parents, and adults with autism builds a picture of various ways of looking at autism. It presents the view of autism being a medical diagnosis, a psychiatric diagnosis, and a different way of being. 

The film opens with Sam, his love of lampposts, and his diagnosis of autism.  Sam’s father narrates his journey through exploring and trying to understand and deal with autism.  Clips featuring some of autism’s leading theories and treatments range from hyperbaric chambers and special diets to floor time, and even accepting autism as a neural difference that is not necessarily bad.  Some of the participants in the film include: Nadine Antonelli, a doctor and mother of a child with autism, and Noah, her son; Simon Baron-Cohen, the director of  The Autism Research Centre at Cambride university; Dora Raymaker, an adult with autism who communicates using a computer with text to speech software.  This is but a small sampling of the large number of impressive participants in this excellent documentary.

I liked the inclusion of parents and experts with varying views.  Most interesting and informative were the interviews with adults who are on the spectrum and the information on how they live their lives.

I enjoyed the interviews with the adults who have autism and how they see their gifts and struggles.

From this story I felt renewed hope that others will understand my son, who is on the spectrum, and that he will build life for himself in spite of the challenges that he will face.

This documentary is appealing to parents of children with autism, teens with autism, and others who are working with a person or people who are on the autism spectrum.  With the inclusion of material ‘debunking’ the immunization connection, parents who feel strongly about that connection may have a hard time with this film.

The film is unrated but does not appear to contain any material unsuitable for teens.

Rated ***** out *****.

Reviewed by Kathy Johnson who is an independent film and book critic, active on the local Community Advisory Committee on Special Education and working with pre-teens and teens at a Youth Center. Kathy has a son on the spectrum, a daughter and two brothers who show every sign of being on the spectrum but were never officially diagnosed.