Temple Grandin

This being an HBO original production I had high expectations, but I certainly didn’t anticipate this movie would be as good as it is.

Temple Grandin was an autistic child who had the good fortune of having a mother who never gave up on her and strived to ensure that her daughter got a chance to live as normal a life as possible.

In fact, Temple Grandin tells the story of not just one amazing woman’s journey through life (everything that comes natural to us was a struggle to learn for Temple, and yet, she graduated from college, earned a Master’s degree and went on to work on a PhD), but of her mother Eustacia as well, a terrific Julia Ormond in some of her best work ever.

As Temple Grandin, Claire Danes is simply spectacular and at the top of her game.  Both Danes and Ormond (as well as David Strathairn) deservedly won an Emmy for their incredibly good work in Temple Grandin.

Perhaps because I’m a parent myself, I felt an incredible connection with Ormond’s character as she strived to raise her daughter and always seemed to come up against a wall, only to realize, in the end, that all her lessons had been absorbed, retained, and utilized by her daughter.  It gave me hope that my struggles to single-handedly teach Italian to my kids will ultimately pay off as well.

I freely admit that I occasionally will get very emotional watching a movie, but rarely have I cried so much as I have at the end of such an uplifting and satisfying movie as Temple Grandin.

Grade: 9