Barry Levinson's Oscar-winning RAIN MAN is the film that defines autism in many people's minds. While capturing an extreme version of the disorder, Dustin Hoffman's Raymond Babbitt is a very accurate portrayal of autism. Though the film garnered a best actor Oscar for Hoffman, the real central character is Raymond's emotionally distant and self-centered brother, Charlie Babbitt. Tom Cruise was recognized as a star before this film, but Charlie solidified him as an actor.
Charlie is a yuppie salesman who deals in expensive sports cars. His current deal is not going well and he is in debt up to his eyeballs. On the way to a vacation weekend with his Italian girlfriend Susanna (Valeria Golino, BIG TOP PEE-WEE), he learns that his estranged father has died. When the will is read, he is furious that all his father bequeathed him were the classic car that ruined their relationship and the old man's prize-winning rose bushes. The remaining $3 million is put in a trust for an unknown benefactor. Charlie follows the leads to a mental health facility where he discovers that the benefactor is his autistic older brother who he never knew he had. Wanting his fair share, Charlie takes Raymond from the facility as a bargaining chip in a game of blackmail.
The two main characters mirror each other in one area — their inability to express emotion. What a poetic stroke to have an egotistical man learn how to tap into his feelings from a man who will never understand his own. At the start, Charlie Babbitt is a thoroughly despicable character. Yet, Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow's Oscar-winning screenplay knows how to keep our sympathy with Charlie even if he is a jerk. Susanna cares for him, so there must be something redeemable about him and her urgings for him to open up set the stage for his transformation. While the story plays Raymond's tics for laughs, they are mostly at the expense of Charlie, who grows increasingly frustrated with them. Cruise subtly moves his character from someone who doesn't know how to express his inner turmoil to someone who cares for his troubled brother naturally. He deserved an Oscar nomination along with his co-star, who unfortunately overshadows his work.
For an abnormal psych class in college, I did a thesis on the accuracy of RAIN MAN's portrayal of Raymond's autism. As I said before, Raymond is an extreme case — a collection of the disorder's worst tics. For Raymond, he can't process feelings or express them. This makes him often go into his own world to shield himself from the outside world that he cannot understand. In place of emotions, Raymond learns facts. Therefore, it is believable that Raymond could memorize all the plane crashes, but connecting those facts with danger is unlikely. Other than this one cheat, for which the whole road trip would never happen without, the film's attention to detail is remarkable. Hofferman captures the tics, but also the humanity of the character. Though Raymond has an unchanging shield in public, he gives flares of his inner side with Charlie once they have grown more comfortable. No truer statement was said about autism then when Charlie says to Raymond, "I know you're in there."
Levinson handles the material with heart and humor, but never allows it to dip into TV movie "disease of the week" fare. Many of the film's classic moments have become part of the pop culture lexicon. Cruise and Hoffman work wonderfully together, crafting characters that are far beyond their personal nickname for the film — "Two shmucks in a car."
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
