Disney as therapy and touchstone
Can a Disney movie save your life? That might seem like the question Disney itself might ask, and quickly answer. But in Roger Ross Williams’ amazing and inspirational documentary, someone outside the Mouse House is posing the query.
And the film’s greatest feat is somehow making the affirmative reply not seem like an advert for Disney Co.
The subject of the film is Owen Suskind, and he tells much of his story in his own words.
That wouldn’t always have been possible. In 1993, at the age of 3, the talkative child fell silent, or conversed only in gibberish.
Doctors diagnosed autism. His parents, journalists Ron Suskind and Cornelia Anne Kennedy, were devastated.
The first ray of hope came when Owen repeated the line, “Just your voice,” while watching The Little Mermaid. He was (and remains), an avid fan of the entire Disney animated feature canon. (Even Treasure Planet?)
Doctors said mere repetition was insignificant, but Owen’s next utterance, at his big brother’s birthday party, was more meaningful: “Walter doesn’t want to grow up, like Mowgli or Peter Pan.”
Ron is almost in tears remembering the light-bulb moment; they could communicate with their son through the characters, dialogue and metaphors of Disney cartoons. Williams expertly crosscuts between the story of Owen’s troubled early years and the young man now looking to start a life of his own.
We see him hosting a Disney night at his special-ed college, complete with appearances by Jonathan Freeman and Gilbert Gottfried; Jafar and Iago from Aladdin.
We hear how he once crafted a story about a little boy named Owen, who protects all the Disney-animated sidekicks. And in one funny-uncomfortable scene, his brother frets about trying to explain the facts of life; should he show him Disney porn?
Life, Animated is based on Ron Suskind’s book about bringing up Owen. Williams supplements old family movies and modern interviews with animated sequences, drawn in a deliberately nonDisney style.
And both tread carefully around the notion that Dumbo and Pinocchio somehow set Owen’s mind free.
To some extent, we all frame the narrative of our lives through the lens of popular culture. (A recent grizzly-attack survivor saw scenes from The Revenant flash before his eyes.)
And Ron has become an advocate of the notion that autistic children can be reached through whatever obsesses them. (There is anecdotal evidence that Apple’s Siri might be one such channel.)
But regardless of whether this is a one-off neurological miracle or a new technique to help autistic children connect, Life, Animated tells a fascinating story with an upbeat ending.
And it doesn’t even need an animated villain.