You Learn Review – Drama A faith-filled autism journey sets out to find a connection between father and son | film

AAnyone with autism or close to someone with the condition may feel inclined to tolerate this family drama about a father and his autistic son, given its call for acceptance and love. But this is very bad, ill-considered and full of contradictory religious messages, and it is a difficult thing to go through. However, if you feel that watching it is almost a charity in itself (obviously some of the proceeds will go to support caregivers), admire this if only for being one of the few feature films that attempts to portray more challenging autistic people in need of support (aka the now disputed “low functioning”). To its credit, the film begins with a disclaimer acknowledging that “the autism spectrum is broad and diverse” and that “this film reflects the individual experiences of two characters and is not intended to represent every autism story.”

The main character here is Elijah (played by Rhys Turley as a child and then Caleb Melby as an adult), a young man who first meets them after a violent avalanche destroys the family’s Christmas decorations. Elijah’s father Ty (John Wells) tries to calm the troubled teen with the help of Elijah’s favorite stuffed toy, the polar bear Nok. Seven years later, Elijah is now in a secure hospital, barely distinguishable from prison, partly because his mother Pam (Leila Cushman), divorced from Ty, just wants to unload on the state and wash her hands of him while Ty struggles to maintain his career as an architect.

To signify his reaching despair, Ty contemplates suicide and now imagines that he can see a life-sized version of Nook (actor – Al Snow – wearing a lavish costume), the 12A version of Ted from the Seth MacFarlane series without the jokes or insults. On Nook’s advice, Ty ends up taking Elijah on an unscheduled Christmas vacation to a South Carolina beach, which angers Pam — even though it appears what he’s doing isn’t entirely illegal.

While all this is happening, wealthy Christian philanthropist Reggie Sinclair (Daniel Roebuck) is worried about when Ty will finish the arena designs he commissioned. But when Reggie sees Instagram posts by Elijah that show him and Ty on their mostly fun road trip, Reggie melts down, especially since he has an autistic son (Seth Frampus).

Director Tyler Sansom and his team of screenwriters fumble around trying to piece the story together, but they still forget to create coherent reasons for the characters to move from one situation to the next. If we’re being honest, the dialogue is absolutely terrible, which only serves to highlight how poor the acting is – but its heart is in the right place.