Rain Man (1988)

Second viewing; previously viewed on April 1, 1989.

An importer/salesman of cars (Charlie) learns about his father's passing and that he has left most of his money in trust to the mental institution where his hitherto unheard of brother (Raymond) is a patient. Charlie is in a desperate financial situation and decides to take Raymond with him without the permission from his guardian.

I previously disliked this film very much, but I can only speculate about the reasons for it. I probably focused too much on the lack of accuracy in the medical and psychological depiction of Raymond as an autistic person; perhaps I also objected to what I then perceived as misplaced sentimentality. Although I still don't find Rain Man exactly what I would call a good film, I think those points are not of such great importance. Ok, the film's plot and characters are made of clichés. Also, Charlie's decision to kidnap, so to speak, his brother is a completely irrational move which stresses believability somewhat. But I think the film succeeds, to a certain extent, at showing two kinds of self-centered people. One of them is superficially a normal one, but shows a very limited emotional attachment to everyone around him. The other has a psychological disorder, and can't respond to emotional stimuli in a normal way. The question the film poses, and perhaps avoids to answer in an explicit way is: what makes Charlie behave the way he does? The implicit answer seems to be that American society has some inner disorder in its values that conditions its normal members to act abnormally. And that disorder has a name: Capitalism.

Rating: 36 (up from 24)