MOVIE: A Brilliant Young Mind

  Before beginning the review, I just wanted to state that I love the actor who played Nathan, Asa Butterfield. He also played Ender in the sci-fi movie, Ender's Game.

 One issue discussed by the movie is the complexity and challenges faced by an autistic child. The main character, Nathan is an autistic child and on top of his disease, he is also faced by the problems of the average teenager. These problems include peer pressure, relationships and family issues.

   An autistic child has a very complex mind and is also very fragile. The way they think is very different and is on a different level compared to the average human. That level may be above average or below average. Even so, they are still people who have to face problems similar to normal human beings. The way they deal with these problems may be different due to the absolute fact that they are autistic.

  In Nathan's case, he has been extremely affected by his father's death but due to his autism, he deals with the tragic death very differently. While others tend to be closer to family members when facing a death, Nathan has distanced himself from his mother even though his mother is in dire need of comfort from her only son. This may be because he has difficulty understanding other people's emotions and how other people's behavior may actually imply a different meaning.

   An average teenager is also plagued by feelings of attraction towards the opposite gender. Although Nathan is not an average teenager, he is still affected and very significantly influenced by his feelings towards Jhiang Mei, a girl from China. He is confused by the feelings he has never experienced before and is unable to identify what it is even though he senses the changes in himself due to these emotion. This influence is proven when he is willing to hold hands and communicate with Jhiang Mei even though he was strongly unwilling to make any form of body contact or communication in the past.

  Peer pressure also plays a major role in this issue. Peer pressure has succeeded in affecting almost every teenager worldwide. A person may feel the need to conform to what people in his surroundings do with the sole reason to fit in and to be considered a part of the community. Nathan has problems with understanding his peers and therefore has difficulty to be a part of them. He does not conform to what all other children his age are like. It is not the issue of him being unwilling. The issue at hand is that he is unaware of what to conform to and how he should behave in order to be accepted by his peers due to his autism. Proof of this is that he is clearly seen eating alone at recess every day and unable to communicate properly with his schoolmates.

  I am extremely interested to know more about the way an autistic person thinks and how they perceive love and friendship. They have a different way thinking and I believe that this may not be a bad thing.