Temple Grandin

I resisted watching the HBO movie, Temple Grandin, for a while. Yes, it stars Claire Danes, an actor who has been relegated to mostly lame, supporting roles since her turns as Angela in My So-Called Life and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. However, oh my Lord!, that haircut! Those clothes! I almost could not bring myself to watch.

But, I did and I'm glad. Temple Grandin is a real person and this film is a unique way to tell her story because we viewers are sort of dropped into her life. Believe me, you can guess how her early years went (and we do get glimpses) because she was diagnosed as autistic and weird and a good candidate for an institution. Her mother--played by the beautiful Ms. Julia Ormond...it's nice to see you...it's been years since you played the object of the brothers' affections in Legends of the Fall--is good as the woman who pushes Temple to live the fullest life she can by sending her to boarding schools and, eventually, to college. Claire Danes is pretty perfect as Temple. And, if you go on the website, you'll see that she looks just like the real deal. http://www.templegrandin.com/. Temple, understood by few, but encouraged by the ones who appreciate her brilliance, comes to design first a way for autistic persons to receive a hug--by creating a wooden Squeeze Machine to simulate human contact without the imposition of such humans. Then, Temple reconfigures slaughter houses and cattle farms in an effort to minimize the cattle's stress and create efficiency.

The real Temple Grandin has gone on to be a spokesperson for the advocacy of education for autistic people along with the restructuring of animal husbandry. Aside from the despicable fashions, I was initially turned off at the prospect of seeing this movie because I thought that Temple would get made fun of to an uncomfortable degree, and I just didn't want to see that. Temple does get taunted, but, it turns out, it's nothing she cannot take. She doesn't understand sarcasm and she doesn't understand why women would be barred from entering cattle ranches. She knows what she's good at: spaces, construction, animal behavior. She knows what she's not good at: people's behavior. That knowledge doesn't hurt her. Temple simply goes after what she wants. She dresses in her own way; she talks with her own speech inflections; she is confident in her theories. People do make fun of her, but who cares? Temple's the one with the published books, the drive, the confidence.

This is a sweet little movie about a woman who lives her life on her own terms. It sheds some light on the autism spectrum in an effort to nudge the viewers to look at people as individuals and as unique. It's not rocket science--a subject Temple loves--but, it is a nice and sometimes funny film. I sometimes wish I didn't understand sarcasm or irony. I wish I didn't classify the Squeeze Machine as sexual--as some folks in the movie do. It would be so much easier if we could just appreciate and use our minds for the gifts that they are. I wish we could all be like Temple--only, with better hair.