(Spoiler
Alert: You may not want to read if you haven’t yet seen the movie.)
I
saw this past weekend the movie, “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” starring Shia
LeBeouf as Tyler, Dakota Johnson as Eleanor, and new to the screen, an actor
with Down Syndrome, Zack Gottsagen.
His
character, Zac, is a young man with Down Syndrome living in a nursing home where
Eleanor, a kind and attractive staff person is assigned to him. Zac hates where
he is and longs to leave. His roommate Carl, (longtime actor, Bruce Dern) is an
elderly man who likes Zac and encourages him in his quest to leave. He knows he
doesn’t belong there. Eleanor knows this, too, but she has no options for
Zac since he has no parents or family to care or provide for him.
Tyler
(LeBeouf) is a failed crab fisherman, a sort of drifter and rebel who lives by
his own rules. He wears the same dingy t-shirt, faded cap, stained shorts, and
scruffy beard through the whole movie, and you begin to forget the actor and
believe the character. In fact, not just the main actors, but all of them, are
fully believable.
Zac,
after several fizzled attempts, finally escapes from the nursing home, with
Carl’s help. He runs away in only his white briefs and stays half-dressed most of the time. I at first thought this to be somewhat demeaning, but I later
decided it took away the sentimentality that movie parts dealing with
characters with disabilities too often create.
Tyler
stumbles onto Zac who after his escape is hiding under a tarp in Tyler’s small fishing boat.
Tyler is doing some escaping of his own, running from two grimy fishermen he
has stolen crab pods from.
And
so, the adventure begins. Zac, a huge wrestling fan, wants to get to his hero
Salt Water Redneck’s wrestling school that he has seen in old videos cassettes.
Tyler is trying to get to Florida to start again, and Zac convinces him to take him along
until he reaches the school. “Maybe we could be friends,” says Zac, “road
dawgs, buddies, and chill, have a good time.” How do you say no to that?
The
journey begins with Zac wandering about in his underwear following Tyler along
marshy trails. He irritates Tyler with endless questions until Tyler lays down
rules for the journey, which include no talking and no questions.
Zac
talks and questions anyway.
Into
their meandering arrives Eleanor, who has been frantic to find Zac and return
him to the nursing home, where her superiors hold her responsible for his
disappearance.
The
three of them develop a sweet bond after various risky and even dangerous
events. Zac gets to the wrestling school only to discover it closed years
earlier and that Salt Water Redneck (played by Thomas Haden Church) has
retired.
Zac
does, though, get his chance to wrestle and be the Peanut Butter Falcon, a
character he created while on the trail with Tyler. Hint: Zac likes peanut
butter.
After
relentless flirting and prodding, Tyler wins over Eleanor and their relationship is fun to watch as well.
The
film is quirky and a bit contrived, but it still gives a glimpse into the life
of a young man with Down Syndrome. He is not trivialized but given a chance to
show his worth. Which the actor Zack Gottsagen does so brilliantly and
enjoyably.
My
grandson, Austin, has Down Syndrome and I thought of him throughout the movie.
I could see in Zac, Austin’s sweetness and mischievousness, his frustrations
and hurts, his yearning and giant efforts to be a normal boy in a world of
harsh realities.
There
is a scene in the film where Zac is being bullied by a bratty kid who keeps
telling Zac to jump off a high deck into the lake. Zac can’t swim and he
quietly keeps saying no he won’t do it. Tyler sees what’s going on and climbs
to the top just as the boy pushes Zac off the deck. Before he jumps in to get
him, Tyler slugs the brat and knocks him down.
It’s
a moment to relish.
My
fear and the fear of Austin’s mom and dad and sister is that he will be
bullied or tormented by other kids who see him as different and perhaps easy
prey. Which I’m sure has already happened. We know we cannot always protect
him. We also know that with time and care and abundant love, he has the skills
to learn ways to protect himself.
And
so, this good film, helps all of us see the unfair boundaries we too often set
for others that aren't like us. It also shows how there are always those willing to
open their heart, give birth to love, and welcome others, however different,
with acceptance and friendship.
As
a line in one of the songs in the movie says, “The long night is over, and I’m
starting to believe, I’m not as broken as some made me out to be.”
©
2019 Timothy Moody
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