Charlie Babbitt Movie Analysis

803 Words2 Pages

Charlie Babbitt, a Los Angeles car dealer, is in the middle of a big deal. However, he is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. Charlie then leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna. However, his trip is cancelled by news that his father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie goes to Cincinnati where he learns that the three million dollars that his father left is being directed to a mental institution, where his brother who he never knew existed, Raymond Babbitt, lives. Charlie is determined to get what he believes is his share of the Babbitt estate, Charlie takes Raymond on a car trip back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys. Charlie intends to get Raymond's doctor, Dr. Gerald R. Bruner, to settle for half of Sanford Babbitt's estate so that the mental institution can maintain custody of Raymond. Susanna leaves Charlie, disgusted by his selfishness and his efforts at using his brother to gain the money,
During the course of the movie, Charlie learns about Raymond's autism. Raymond has savant autism. As a result of it, he had outstanding recall abilities although usually having little understanding of the subjects he recalls. He also has the ability to count a large number of objects at once. He is also sticks to strict routines because he is easily upset with change. He shows little emotional expression unless he is in distress and avoids eye contact. He also learns about how his brother came to be separated from his family, as a result of an accident when he was left alone with Charlie when Charlie was a baby. Raymond also sings "I Saw Her Standing There" by The Beatles like he did when Charlie was young. This causes...

... middle of paper ...

... Raymond Babbitt.
Not all autistic persons are savants. There are a few numbers of people who have the extraordinary skills of Raymond Babbitt. People with savant skills at the level of Raymond Babbitt are exceedingly rare (but they do exist). Finally, not all savants are autistic. While the frequency of savant syndrome is much lower among the mentally retarded than among autistics, mental retardation is a much more common condition. The point is while both are developmental disabilities; mental retardation and autism are separate conditions. There can be some similarities, and some mentally retarded persons can have some autistic features, but in general those two conditions require separate approaches. The savant abilities are grafted onto the basic autism or mental retardation, and savant syndrome exists as a special condition in either of those two disabilities.

Open Document