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Rain Man Description

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Rain Man
(Drama) (1988)

©1999 by Raymond Weschler

Major Characters

Charlie Babbitt....................Tom Cruise A young Los Angeles businessman who sells expensive sports cars.

Raymond Babbitt................Dustin Hoffman A "high level" autistic man who lives in a home for the mentally disabled in Ohio (Some words on autism follow the plot summary).

Susanna................................Valeria Golino Charlie's Italian girlfriend.

Dr. Bruner.............................Jerry Molen The administrator who is responsible for taking care of Raymond at the Ohio home where he lives.

Plot Summary

Charlie is a young and struggling Los Angeles businessman who sells expensive cars for a living. One day he receives word that his father, a man with whom he had not spoken in years, had died back in Cincinnati, Ohio. Charlie returns to his childhood home to take care of his father's property, only to find out that virtually all of his dad's $3,000,000 estate was left to an unnamed person in a 'trust' (A legal document giving property to another person).

After doing some investigating, Charlie learns that the trust was for a person who lived in a home for the mentally disabled near his childhood house. While exploring this institution with his girlfriend, Susanna, Charlie makes a nearly unbelievable discovery: The person to whom the trust was given is an autistic man named Raymond Babbitt, who it turns out is Charlie's older brother. Charley had never known he had a brother, for his parents had never told him.

In his confusion, anger and greed, Charlie decides to take Raymond back with him. Raymond is probably not prepared to leave the Ohio institution he has lived in his entire life, but Charlie is determined to get what he thinks is his "fair share" of his father's estate. Thus, Charlie decides to fight for legal custody (possession) of his new brother, as a way of being able to get to the $3,000,000 that his father had left for Raymond.

In their journey back to Los Angeles, Raymond nearly drives Charlie crazy with the maddening characteristics that are a function of his autism (see note below). But eventually, Raymond has a profound influence on Charlie, and thus Charlie eventually grows to love and accept his brother exactly as he is.

A note on autism: People who are autistic are believed to suffer from an abnormal psychological state in which they have a severely limited understanding of reality. Perhaps more importantly, it is believed they have little understanding of their own emotions, or the emotions of other people.
There is a wide range of autism that exists. Some people are so autistic they can almost do nothing for themselves, and are completely dependent on others for their everyday needs.

There are other autistics who are considered "high functioning," and thus are able to do much on their own, although they may still be better off living in institutions that care for the mentally disabled. Still other autistics are what are called "idiot savants," in that they have the ordinary limitations of most autistics, but they also have special mental skills that are reflective of pure genius. For example, in the case of Raymond, he appears to have both the memory and basic math abilities of a computer, not a person.

Over the last several years (perhaps in part because of this movie), a growing body of literature on the experience of autism has emerged that you may want to explore. Much of this material is available on the web.

Some Words And Expressions that You may not Know

Charlie desperately tries to close a key business deal, and then learns of the death of his father.

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