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The Accountant
Listen, sways I may be a few glasses into the Bad Bourbon ™, but I need to tell you about The Accountant.
It's a mystery thriller that has Brad Pitt...that's wrong...BEN AFFLECK playing an August...OK, that's just autocorrect being ableist...playing an autist. And you know what, it's not terrible! In fact, I really like it.
While it does turn A Beautiful Mind into Jason Bourne, it highlights an important part of the autistic experience, which is how neurodivergence strains familial ties.
At the beginning of the film, Christian Wolff's parents seek the aid of a neurodevelopmental specialist to help their autistic son. Christian's father decides against the recommended, and correct, approach, which he would probably describe as "coddling". Importantly, however, it's Christian's mother who is made the villain, after she abandons the family over this decision a short while later.
While his father's decision to ignore science may have been factually incorrect, his mother's decision to throw in the towel may be more reprehensible. But at least she didn't try to have "weakness" beaten out of her child. (To be clear, Christian himself demands that the beatings continue.)
Meanwhile, his brother, Braxton, may have no understanding of how to connect with Christian, but he still supports him as best he can. And at the end of the film, Braxton harbors some resentment towards Chris, not for getting their father killed, but for calling their father, instead of him, when going to their mother's wake. At the climax of the film, Braxton and Christian reunite after not having seen each other in 10 years. Maybe they'll see each other next week. Who knows?
Everyone in Christian's family loves him, and he loves them, and there is abuse and abandonment and failures of acknowledgment. All of this is true at once. All of this is fair in the war of love.
#Autism #Family #MentalHealth
It's a mystery thriller that has Brad Pitt...that's wrong...BEN AFFLECK playing an August...OK, that's just autocorrect being ableist...playing an autist. And you know what, it's not terrible! In fact, I really like it.
While it does turn A Beautiful Mind into Jason Bourne, it highlights an important part of the autistic experience, which is how neurodivergence strains familial ties.
At the beginning of the film, Christian Wolff's parents seek the aid of a neurodevelopmental specialist to help their autistic son. Christian's father decides against the recommended, and correct, approach, which he would probably describe as "coddling". Importantly, however, it's Christian's mother who is made the villain, after she abandons the family over this decision a short while later.
While his father's decision to ignore science may have been factually incorrect, his mother's decision to throw in the towel may be more reprehensible. But at least she didn't try to have "weakness" beaten out of her child. (To be clear, Christian himself demands that the beatings continue.)
Meanwhile, his brother, Braxton, may have no understanding of how to connect with Christian, but he still supports him as best he can. And at the end of the film, Braxton harbors some resentment towards Chris, not for getting their father killed, but for calling their father, instead of him, when going to their mother's wake. At the climax of the film, Braxton and Christian reunite after not having seen each other in 10 years. Maybe they'll see each other next week. Who knows?
Everyone in Christian's family loves him, and he loves them, and there is abuse and abandonment and failures of acknowledgment. All of this is true at once. All of this is fair in the war of love.
#Autism #Family #MentalHealth
