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| Credit Warner Brothers |
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close tells the incredible story of how a young boy, Oskar, who relied on his father and their games and interactions to get through his life; the life he felt was very strange. He admits that he’s different, that doctors thought he might have Asperger’s, but the tests were inconclusive.
Portraying the Fears
He’s scared of the subway, the train, people, crowds, yet his father had helped him find a way to adjust in the big city of New York by assigning him “reconnaissance missions” as a way to force him to talk to people. One such adjustment tool was a tambourine that he would shake when he was nervous or scared on these missions. The biggest of all missions, became finding the owner of a key that Oskar found after his father’s death. It was in a small envelope with the name “Black” written on it. He was hoping that this key and the mission would bring him closer to his father.
Raising Awareness
In my opinion, I felt the writer, director and cinematographer did a great job of showing what going through a tragedy like this would be like for a child with Asperger’s. For example, there are times that Oskar spews out voluminous amounts of words….about his fears; about numbers and facts that he knows, based on the situations at hand or just in general; about things that he did on that terrible, awful day.
The Asperger Brain
Once Oskar finds that key, he goes to an obsessive length to find every “Black” in the phone book, writes them all down, grouping them by boroughs, figuring out their map coordinates, and exactly how long it would take to see all of them. As I watched this, I found it amazing as to how Oskar’s brain works. It made me wonder if this is how MY son’s brain works. The tantrums or meltdowns that Oskar had were mild in comparison to what my son and many other children with Asperger’s or Autism have. However, I thought it was technically correct to add those situations into the movie, as a child with Asperger’s would most definitely experience meltdowns after the death of a parent.
Amazing Irony
There were many ironic shots that I loved. In one scene, Oskar is sitting in his class at school, watching a wasp trying to get out of the window. At the same time, his father was in the top of the World Trade Center, trying to get out. In another scene, Oskar takes “The Renter” (who is renting a room from his Grandmother) on one of his missions. The Renter, who is from Germany and we later find out was held in a concentration camp, gets scared when he sees a train rumbling over tracks.
Through the Eyes of Oskar
There were additional scenes that showed the world through Oskar’s eyes. For example, his view of running by a train or the way it looks to him when he walks through a crowd of people. This movie demonstrated the magnification of sound for those with Asperger’s. Oskar could hear the sound of water dripping in the bathroom. At times the noise gets SO loud that he has to cover his ears with his hands. These scenes created awareness in demonstrating what Oskar was experiencing.
Increased Awareness to the Details Needed
Before this movie was released nationally, there were many negative reviews on the young actor who portrays Oskar. I wrote about them previously…here. After seeing the movie, I still don’t understand some of their ideas. Oskar’s voice was not monotone; his voice had regular high and lows in his speech. It’s obvious that he is very bright, numbers and counting seem to be his thing, and really had a small number of meltdowns, given what he was dealing with.
The Naysayers
Rotten Tomatoeshas a collection of both positive and negative reviews. Here are links to some negative reviews:
Obviously, these reviewers have no knowledge of Asperger’s and what a child with this disorder (not disease!) sounds like, acts like, or goes through in their life! The actor portraying Oskar does NOT have Asperger’s, but he does a wonderful job (in my opinion!) imitating what a child would do. Also, this “isn’t life wondrous” reviewer apparently did not watch the movie closely, because it’s obvious that this boy is hurting as he even takes to pinching himself to make him stop hurting!
The Proponents
Here are links to some of the good reviews I have found:
Sadly, there were not many positive reviews to be found and I find fault with what the majority of the negative reviews on having 9/11 in the movie. In my opinion it works as it shows the phone calls and the struggles of a child trying to make sense of the impossible. It plays on fears of tall buildings, airplanes, noise. Separate the fact that his father died on 9/11 and many of the people helping him along the way would not be so willing to help a child.
On a Personal Level
As a mom of a child with Asperger’s, I found this movie to be very emotional charged. Take the aspect of a child losing a parent on 9/11, which is already heartbreaking, but the mannerisms and words that Oskar uses throughout the film makes me visually replace him with my son. I ask myself, How would my son react? Would he hurt in the same way? Would he be able to go on?
About Meredith Mull
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