LIFE, ANIMATED

US, 2016, 89 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Roger Ross Williams.

In this title, the word “animated” has two different meanings, both of them very positive.

The immediate impact of the word is that this is a film about life, liveliness, life that is full of spirit. And this is true. However, the word has more meaning in connection with movie animation, with some designed especially for illustrating the central character in this film and his experiences, but with a greater emphasis on Disney films, the classic Disney films.

This is a documentary about Owen Suskind, whom we see at the beginning of the film as a 23-year-old preparing for his graduation. We soon realise that this is not an ordinary graduation. The program is for young adults with psychological and behavioural difficulties. Owen is autistic. As the audience accompanies Owen and his family on his life journey so far, there is a moving opportunity to understand and to appreciate something of autism and means of coping.

There are home movies of Owen as a little boy, enjoying life until, at the age of three, something happens inside him, an inability to talk properly, uttering jumbles of sounds, and unable to walk with a normal gait. Fortunately, he has a very loving and devoted parents, his father a journalist with the Wall Street Journal and his mother, working at home, continually loving and supportive. He has an older brother Walter, who is lovingly concerned about his brother.There are visits to doctors, therapists, prescriptions for medication…

Some transformation happens in the parents’ ability to help their son when Owen is able to articulate a phrase which they recognise from Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Owen watches the Disney movies, is able to identify with the characters, especially emotionally, has a capacity for memorising and quoting the dialogue, the films and the characters thus becoming norms for his understanding of human nature and behaviour.

One of the features of the film is the highlighting of particular scenes from the animated films, with Owen identifying as Peter Pan, identifying when packing to leave home with Dumbo, Bambi and the death of his mother, many sequences and characters of the Little Mermaid and a climax with The Lion King.

Back to his graduation, his fondness for one of his fellow students Emily and the shock of her not wanting to continue the relationship, his wise mother explaining carefully the ups and downs of life and the need to cope. He settles into his own apartment, sometimes very able in what he can do, at other times needing assistance and guidance from helpers in this supervised accommodation. And, interestingly, he gets an invitation to go to a conference in France to speak about his own situation, especially the bond with the animated films. He gives his speech, brief, but quite an achievement.

There have been a number of films, and we remember Rain Man from almost 30 years ago, about people with autism – another inspiring film is the real-life story of a young woman, Temple Grandin.

1. The impact of the film? Humane? Autism? The particular focus on Owen Suskind? A close-up look? Observation and reflection?

2. A moving documentary, detailed following of the family, of Owen and his experiences, enabling the audience to observe and think? The title, Disney animation and its impact? The
particular animation about Owen and his experiences for this film?

3. The world of Disney, the range of Disney animated films, in the past, like Peter Pan, Dumbo, Bambi? More recent times like The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King?

4. The introduction, Owen, age 23, classes, the prospect of graduation, his condition, personality, relationship with his family, with Emily, with the teachers and carers?

5. The background of his family, Ron as a Wall Street journalist, his mother working at home? Walter as his older brother? The initial happy family life, the home movies?

6. Owen at age three, the sudden regression, the garbled talk, the awkward walking? The consultation with psychologists and therapists? The pervasive deterioration? Medication? Questions about intellectual ability, articulation? Sounds and words? His interior life, relationships?

7. Growing up, his childhood, adolescence, the therapies? Medication? The continued devotion of his parents? Walter and his concern, support, worry about Owen’s future?

8. The animation, and connecting with the characters, their emotions, their interactions, a way of interpreting reality? His enjoying the films, understanding them, entering into their world and their security? His collection of videos?

9. The range of Disney, the posters, The Little Mermaid, the nature of the excerpts, the relationship to his experience, for example Dumbo and packing, Bambi and his mother dying, Owen as a Peter Pan, his playing Peter Pan as a game? The importance of The Little Mermaid? The threats, the friend? Be a Guest? The climax in the Lion King?

10. The special animation for the film, its visual style, the characterisation of Owen, helping the audience to appreciate Owen through the images, his story, his experience, the equivalents – and the Disney characters appearing in this animation?

11. The important characterisation of his family, his father, in the home videos, over the years, sympathetic and affectionate? His mother, loving, present, wise, her advice? Walter, older, his own life, but his concern for Owen, listening to him, advising him?

12. His graduation, happy, the relationship with Emily, the bonds between them? The breakdown of the relationship, the reasons, sharing, the break, the effect on Owen, on Emily? His mother giving him advice on life and it ups and downs, coping? Walter and his support? Owen seeing Emily – and the ordinary friendship?

13. Walter, his reflection on his brother, especially Owen growing up, biological urges, sexuality? Owen baffled by all of this? The cartoon equivalents of romantic love?

14. The graduation, the celebration, his happiness? Packing, travelling, going into the new apartment, the detail, settling in, knowing how to settle, things that he could not do, the question about the post and the key, getting help? Supervised accommodation?

15. The importance of getting a job, the discussion with the manager of the cinemas, his work as an usher and greeting people?

16. The visit to Paris, trying to write his talk, his parents taking him, the speech, the attentive audience, his words in French, the nature of his speech and the explanation about the Disney characters?

17. The film offering an opportunity, in a brief space of time, for some understanding of autism? Appreciation of the situation? The character of Owen, his life, coping – and questions about his future?