MOVIE: The Black Balloon – opening Thursday, 6 March 2008
The film depicts a teenage boy (Rhys Wakefield) falling for a girl (model-turned-actor Gemma Ward) while struggling to deal with his severely autistic brother (Luke Ford). Toni Collette plays the boys' pregnant mother.
Senior staff of the country's largest autism organisation, Autism Spectrum Australia, are already convinced of the film's educational worth - having seen an advanced screening of the movie earlier this year - and plan to include it as part of the company's induction program for new staff.
ASA spokesman Anthony Perl said that given the "broad spectrum" of the condition, it was impossible to portray a one-size-fits-all example of the life of an autistic person. "But the film's great strength is that it demonstrates how autism affects the lives of others."
The 1988 film Rainman brought autism to public attention but dealt with a character - portrayed by Dustin Hoffman - who was an autistic savant, an extremely rare condition.
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