The movie Rainman, is a 1988 American drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass.
In this movie, it tells the story of a man, Charlie Babbitt who appears to be self-centered and heartless. Charlie finds out early in the movie that his father, who he had not spoken to in years, had passed away. Charlie soon finds out that his wealthy father has left his estate worth millions to another son, Raymond. Charlie was unaware that he even had a brother for all these years and was angry over the entire will. Charlie went to the home where Raymond was living to find out who this person was that was the beneficiary of his father’s estate. In doing this, Raymond recognized his father’s car and went over to it telling Charlie’s girlfriend that he was a good driver and that his father let him drive slow down the driveway. When Charlie came out to the car he asked questions to Raymond in which Raymond was able to answer. One of the questions was who is your father. This is how Charlie met his brother Raymond! Raymond was not an ordinary brother but one with disorders that Charlie had no idea what they were.
Charlie was at this home for one reason and that was to get the money that he thought rightfully belonged to him. Little did he know he would find a long lost brother and he decided to kidnap him until he could get the money his father had left behind.
Raymond is a very high functioning autistic savant who has been living in a group home facility for almost his entire life. “To understand autistic savant syndrome, you need to understand what Savantism is. Savant syndrome is a condition in which people having developmental disorders have an area of expertise which separates from their limitations. “Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder whose symptoms are first observed very early in life, usually in infancy”. (Seligman, 2001) Autism is when a child’s ability to respond to social interaction with others does not develop. Children with autism often do not learn to speak and if they do use language it is usually not normal language that you or I would use language. As in the movie Rainman, autistic people tend to repeat what they have just heard. In the movie, Raymond heard a saying advertising the radio station and for the next ten minutes or so he constantly repeated what he had heard the radio announcer say. Raymond also could repeat the entire beginning advertisement from Wheel of Fortune the television show. Autistic people are in high need of a schedule so they have a constant routine. In Raymond’s situation, his schedule included watching a few of his favorite television shows such as Wheel of Fortune, People’s Court and Jeopardy. Although Raymond could not answer simple questions such as what are you hungry for he was able to answer many jeopardy questions when watching television. In the movie, Raymond was agitated when something was not in his normal routine which is very normal for autistic people. In Raymond’s case he would recite and Abbot and Costello act of Who is on First. He also would sway back and forth while doing his repeating of the baseball act. His routine also included the location of his bed which was by a window he also needed his television and his books. Raymond even knew that his underwear were boxers from K-mart. Now, not all autistic people are as high functioning as Raymond.
To add to the Autism, Raymond was also diagnosed as an Autistic savant which is a specific group which comprises of people having both, autism and the savant syndrome. These people are known to be extremely gifted and have skills which are way above the comprehension of a normal person.” (autisticsavant.org). In the movie Rainman, Raymond the autistic savant has a special skill with numbers and counting. One example of his special skill is that during the movie the waitress spilled some tooth picks. Raymond proceeded to look at the floor and was able to tell how many had spilled. He was correct as the waitress pointed out that the box had 250 picks enclosed and there were 4 tooth picks still in the box so when Raymond said 246 he was correct. Another example of his skill is that he loves to read and when his brother did not have a book for him to read Charlie gave Raymond the phone book and told him to read it. At the restaurant, Raymond read the waitress’s name tag and also recited her address and phone number.
As all of this was very new to Charlie he was becoming very frustrated with Raymond as when he would speak simple questions Raymond could not answer them or just answered yes or I don’t know. It was not until Charlie took Raymond to a doctor that they discovered this special skill that Raymond had. After speaking with the doctor about what exactly Autism savant was and listening to the doctor tell him that Raymond was a high functioning autistic savant that Charlie started to understand a little more about Raymond’s condition. Charlie,later in the show took Raymond to the casino where he used Raymond’s gift to count cards at the blackjack table as Charlie needed to make some money to save his business.
Having autism affected Raymond in being able to understand and to adapt to situations that were brought before him. He could not function in society with this disorder as he does not understand reality. One example from the movie was he was trying to cross the street and the sign changed to say “Don’t Walk” so Raymond stopped walking in the middle of the busy intersection and caused a traffic jam. He did not realize that he had done anything wrong, all he knew was the sign said not to walk. He did not pay any attention to the cars stopping until they started honking at him. He was bothered by the loud continuous noises but he still did not understand why the loud noises were happening. This particular disorder also affects the people around as if you are not educated about the disorder as Charlie was not, frustration can set in and you may expect to much from the autistic person. A simple question to those around Raymond was not a simple question to him. His brain can do large math problems but a simple question as to how much does a candy bar cost is to complex. As Charlie was not educated as to what to expect or how Raymond would act or react to things it was a struggle for Charlie. The routine that Raymond had in regards to his breakfast and his syrup had to be on the table before the pancakes came was another simple thing but Charlie did not understand and did not accommodate Raymond until Raymond started to react with his swaying and reciting his Abbot and Costello act. I believe that this movie did a great job in depicting autism as Raymond had so many of the characteristics and actions of someone with autism. I do think that it is unrealistic that they made his character into such a high functioning autistic person when a very small percent of autistic people actually function so well and with high standards as Raymond did in the movie. As they did show a few outbursts from the autistic character I do not believe that they made it as life like and real as what the majority of autistic people would have done in some of the situations that Raymond was in.

References autisticsavant.org Seligman, M. E., Walker, E. F., & Rosenhan, D. L. (2001). Abnormal psychology. New York: Norton.