Autism is rarely portrayed well in popular media. I make it no secreat that I am on the spectrum. I love pop culture but there is hardly any positive representation of Autism in it. Autism is a neurological condition that affects people differently. There is a saying that if you met one person with Autism, then you met one person with Autism. A lot of movies tend to lump in all the symptoms into a caricature. At best, these depictions could have the best of intentions with some inauthentic portrayals. At worst, they can be caricatures that propagate harmful stereotypes. One of the worst examples of this is Sia’s infamous film Music. I approached Ezra with some cautious optimism on this precedent. The film followed some tiring cliches but I did think that its heart was in the right place.
The film is a drama about a failing comedian who struggles to care for his son. Ezra had behavioral problems due to untreated Autism. It got to the point that a social worker demanded that he take stronger medication and be sent to a special needs school. Ezra misunderstood a conversation he overheard from his mother’s boyfriend and ran out to the street. He got hit by a car which lead a social worker to think that he may need to be institutionalized. Max took Ezra with him on a road trip which caused his wife and father to go after him before the authorities.
This review will not focus on the narrative or the cinematography. This review will strictly focus on its representation for Autism. It does follow the trope of having the caretakers be the main protagonist instead of the person the story is supposed to be about. A lot of dramas that focus on Autism treat the neuro divergent as a plot device instead of a character with their own agency. The stories are usually about how they must learn how to be a better caretaker. What makes this movie stand out is the narrative of generational trauma. Max’s father wasn’t supportive of his needs and Max struggled to help with Ezra’s. The movie implies that Max may also be on the spectrum as well. There is a scene that hints at his discomfort of wearing the arrest bracelet at the end of the film. Max had to learn how to regulate his emotions while working with Ezra’s triggers. The movie needed to be explicit in his neurodivergence if it wanted to explore the topic of intergenerational trauma.
I found the portrayal of Ezra’s Autism to be authentic. It helps that William Fitzgerald is autistic himself. I appreciate that they hired a neuro divergent actor to play a neuro divergent character. The cast and crew went out of their way to make sure that Will had the accommodation he needed to give the best performance he could. Ezra’s mannerisms are indicative of being on the spectrum. He learned how to speak by watching movies. This is something that spoke to me on a personal level. I used to quote popular media to learn how to speak when I was developing my own vocabulary. It never felt like the movie was mocking it. Ezra’s misunderstanding is understandable. Autistic people tend to take figurative speech at face value.
Another thing that the movie does well is how it portrays Ezra’s triggers. Most movies that talk about Autism fall under the trap of framing Autism as a burden that could be life ruining. This movie doesn’t shy away from the difficulties but it doesn’t demonize Ezra for it. Some people on the spectrum have issues with food texture. Ezra eats with plastic because he doesn’t like the texture of metal silverware. There was a scene where he was having a meltdown because he was eating lasagna with a metal fork. It reminded me of the foods I struggled to eat when I was a child because of my own texture issues. There are some foods that I still can’t eat because of this but my palate had become more varied in my adulthood. Ezra eventually overcame this when he ate ice cream with a silver spoon for the first time. I can confirm that this is accurate due to my own experience. I struggled to eat spinach when I was a child until there was a day when it was the only thing I could eat at the time. Now it is a regular part of my diet.
The thing that impressed me the most about Ezra’s portrayal is the honesty that he displays. It does vary on the person but people on the spectrum tend to be more honest with their feelings. That is because they tend to not understand the nuances of telling a lie. That doesn’t mean that an Autistic person can’t lie. They are just more likely to be open about their true intentions than a neurotypical person. Ezra tells the truth even if the other person in the conversation doesn’t want to hear it.
Even though I think it is a positive portrayal of Autism, that doesn’t mean that my opinion is the only one you should consider. Just because I think this movie portrayed it respectfully doesn’t mean another Autistic person would view it the same way. I implore people to read other Autistic people’s perspective on this film to get a more nuanced view on how this movie portrayed the subject.
The Linden Hour 