Review: 'Rain Man' makes low fuctioning autism confused with savante mental impairment

Rain Man    R           

            Barry Levinson's epic about a special man who has a strange ailment, and appears to have savante qualities, is an excellent flick. It's just that many people use the idea, even to this day, in discussing autism. the story of Kim Peek, the inspiration for this movie's character, played expertly be Dustin Hoffman, is actually quite different than an autistic man. The confusion is that Hoffman plays him as almost likeable, almost normal, and somewhat autistic, but he wasn't even slightly that way. Peek is mentally impaired and has savante traits, not Autism. (He's still living). In simple terms, his brain is missing the central part that controls his motor skills, abilities, and cognition. In other words, he can barely do anything for himself. That is not really autism. That is mental impairment of a severe nature. What is special about Peek is his ability to memorize whole chunks of dialogue, music, or print in seconds. The guy can't even put on his own clothes or brush his own teeth, but he can do amazing memory retention. That part of his brain wasn't damaged. Autistics also have this in varying levels, but in his case it is not autism. There.  

     Review by Adam Browne

Adam is actually a high functioning autistic writer. He is a bit insulted by the stereotypes created by this film, and which everyone remembers, but notes that Kim Peek was not autistic, and should have been portrayed as he was in the actual documentaries. Then again, had he been, the movie would not have won Oscars and made money. Hollywood doesn't actually want to see someone as mentally gone as Peek, although ironically decades later, Sean Penn's I am Sam was, and nearly got an Oscar.