I imagine that harnessing a wild animal and letting special needs children ride them falls in the less obvious area of animal exploitation, I also imagine that trekking to the other end of the world to treat your child is perhaps a more heroic act than accepting the same fate reserved for many children that become isolated by autism. With a tagline that reads “a father’s quest to heal his son” Zeitgeist have secured the North American rights to what I imagine is a hopeful, feel-good documentary about facing of adversity. The doc preemed at the recent Sundance film festival.
Re-baptized with a new title matching the one from the book which will receive a paperback release Fall at the same time as the doc, The Horse Boy (a.k.a Over the Hills and Far Away), this chronicles Rowan and his family’s journey across this vast, wild landscape. It delves into the strange world of autism itself, the relationship between humans and animals, between different cultures, different ways of being (autistic versus normal, or ‘neuro-typical’), and the nature of healing. The doc features varied theories on autism from the experts in the field, including animal welfarist Dr Temple Grandin – a recovered autist and plenty of irony here: helps build better slaughterhouses.
