Rain Man and the Autistic Savant Syndrome, Movie Review Example

In the 1998 film Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman portrays Raymond Babbitt, an institutionalized adult with a rare type of autism known as the autistic savant syndrome which Mary C. Townsend describes as categorized within the autism spectrum (DSM-IV-TR 2000 version) and as a mental disorder “characterized by impairment in social interaction skills, interpersonal communication, and a restricted repertoire of activities and interests.” Overall, the diagnosis of autism is usually “adapted to each individual by clinical specifiers,” such as the level of severity, verbal abilities, and disabilities related to intelligence (2013, p. 652).

In addition, a person afflicted with the autistic savant syndrome generally withdraws into their own world of fantasy without any regard for outside reality and usually focuses upon very specific interests. Also, autistic savants like Raymond Babbitt generally possess some type of extraordinary talent, usually related to music, art, and mathematics. As Townsend relates, these types of individuals as viewed by “normal” persons, such as Raymond’s younger brother Charlie Babbitt, played by Tom Cruise, see the afflicted person as being “somewhat bizarre,” especially concerning how they behave and react to what others would consider as nothing out of the ordinary (2013, p. 652).

The basic plot of Rain Man, directed by Barry Levinson, revolves around the Babbitt brothers with Raymond inheriting his father’s estate via a $3 million trust fund which Raymond’s late father set up as a way to help his disabled son to live comfortably in the institution. However, when Charlie finds out about the trust fund, he begins to devise ways to take it over and use the money for his own purposes which includes buying expensive luxury cars. Since Charlie is desperate and deep in debt, he removes Raymond from the institution in Cincinnati, Ohio, and takes him on a week-long excursion across America. As a result, Charlie must face a number of problems related to Raymond’s bizarre behavior, such as insisting that he eat only certain kinds of food and be able to watch “The People’s Court” on TV at exactly the same time every day.

The plot then takes a big turn when Charlie discovers that Raymond as an autistic savant has a talent for numbers. This talent comes in handy when Charlie decides to take Raymond to Las Vegas, where they “strike it rich” through Raymond’s ability to remember which cards have been dealt at a blackjack table. But at the end of the film, Charlie realizes that Raymond belongs in the institution, so he takes him back to Cincinnati, all the while knowing that his elder brother, the “Rain Man” from Charlie’s childhood, deserves to be happy at the institution which ends Charlie’s attempts to seize the trust fund set up by his late father.

Historically, the autistic savant syndrome dates back to 1894 when psychological researcher Alfred Binet described autism as occurring in “individuals of impaired general cognitive functioning” with an above average specific ability or talent. Physiologically, autistic individuals like Raymond Babbitt “appear to be able to use processing strategies

within a particular domain” that is separate from the brain’s normal abilities related to cognitive functioning (Pring & Hermelin, 2002, p. 1101).

This is supported by additional research done over the last twenty years that has conclusively shown that “some skills are based on relatively well-differentiated neurological capacities” or the connections between the brain and the nervous system. Also, some of the skills exhibited by autistic savants tend to be “rule-based, rigid and highly structured” (Young, 2001, p. 331), such as with Raymond who panics when his routine is disturbed or changed. As an example from the film, Raymond insists that he must buy his boxer shorts at K-Mart. This infuriates Charlie who tells Raymond that it makes no difference where a person buys boxer shorts–“Underwear is underwear! It’s underwear wherever you buy it!” In response, Raymond says “Boxer shorts. K-Mart.” Also, autistic savants generally do not possess certain traits associated with the ability to think critically and logically, being the lack of “cognitive flexibility” which is “generally considered to reflect intelligence” in a normal human being (Young, 2001, p. 331).

However, exactly how a person like Raymond Babbitt can possess the ability to do complex mathematical calculations in his head is not presently known, but some researchers tend to believe that the brain of an autistic savant is “wired” differently from birth which tends to increase certain abilities located within specific areas of the brain. Also, some have suggested that these abilities are inherited, but in the film, Charlie appears to be completely normal; whether his father was autistic remains wide open to speculation.

Although the character of Raymond Babbitt is fictional, screenwriters Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow based Raymond on a real person named Kim Peek who as an autistic savant memorized the text word for word in more than 6000 books and possessed “an encyclopedic knowledge of geography, music, literature, history, sports and nine other areas of expertise” (Treffert, 2009, p. 1354). This individual could also name from memory all of the United States area codes and zip codes; he also memorized “the maps in the front of telephone books” and could tell a person how to drive from one American city to another and which streets to take when in a city to arrive at a specific destination (Treffert, 2009, p. 1354).

Also like Raymond Babbitt, this individual possessed the amazing ability to calculate the days of the calendar, meaning that he could tell a person what day of the week a particular date fell upon and the day of the week in years past. In the film, one scene shows Raymond and Charlie sitting inside of a restaurant where a box of toothpicks are knocked to the floor. Raymond scans the toothpicks on the floor and then tells Charlie how many toothpicks are left in the box.

Another scene shows Charlie tossing some playing cards on the trunk of his car. He spreads out the cards, draws some at random, and then asks Raymond what cards he is holding in his hand. Of course, Raymond is dead-on accurate which inspires Charlie to drive to Las Vegas and attempt to bankrupt the casino. Exactly how Raymond manages this amazing feat is because he possesses the ability to count cards, meaning that he knows how many cards are left in the deck (made up of six separate decks or 312 cards) and how many will add up to 21 when playing blackjack. Considering that real autistic savants have been known to be able to calculate the sum of many numbers strung together via multiplication in their heads, Raymond’s amazing ability at counting cards is quite plausible.

As a film, Rain Man was highly successful at the box office and earned a number of Oscars. The film also helped to dispel some of the myths about autism and the autistic savant syndrome, such as making it clear that some so-called “idiot savants” have special abilities far above the normal person and can use these abilities to accomplish a wide range of activities, such as playing the piano like a virtuoso without being able to read music. Overall, Rain Man demonstrates that special people like Raymond Babbitt deserve to be studied by brain researchers who today are constantly attempting to unravel the intricate and mysterious world of the human mind.

References

Pring, L., and Hermelin, B. (2002). Numbers and letters: Exploring an autistic savant’s unpractised ability. Neurocase (8) 4: 101-108. Retrieved from http://research.gold.ac.uk/448/1/Pring_and_Hermelin_NC409-00.pdf

Townsend, M.C. (2013). Essentials of Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. 6th ed. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.

Treffert, D.A. (2009). The savant syndrome: An extraordinary condition: A synopsis: Past, present, future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (364) 1522: 1351-1357. Retrieved from http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1522/1351.full

Young, R. (2001). Current research in the area of autism and savant syndrome. International Education Journal (2) 4: 329-333. Retrieved from http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v2n4/YOUNG/PAPER.PDF