Temple Grandin

It's true that some things just couldn't be written as fiction. Temple Grandin is a movie based on the true story of Autistic woman Temple Grandin. Claire Danes is the lead, with Catherine O'Hara, Julia Ormond, and David Strathairn supporting. All did bang up jobs and I for one immediately rewatched my favorite parts.

Temple Grandin was an odd but very bright and misunderstood girl. She thought in pictures, had a photogenic memory, and a big heart for animals, but when it came to people she had some trouble. Her aunt (O'Hara) lived on a ranch that Temple first visited the summer between high school and college. On the ranch she saw how cattle were calmed as they were branded and tagged; having panic attacks and episodes herself she learned that this squeezing was actually very soothing and also calmed her down. She then built her own "squeeze machine" also known "hug machine" to help manage her anxiety and went on her way to becoming one of the most influential people in the field of animal husbandry.

Against what the expectations were at the time for a person with Autism, Temple went on to college and graduate school. Her masters thesis was on how to build a more functional and humane system to lead cows into being dipped and into slaughter. "Nature is cruel but we don't have to be. We raise these animals for us, we owe them some respect." Her methods and understanding of cattle were fascinating to watch and her success admirable.

Director, Mick Jackson, did a great job of illustrating to the audience Temple's thinking in pictures. We watch and feel for her struggles while awing her creativeness and drive. A lot has been learned about Autism and how it affects people from the 1940s when it was blamed on a mother for being cold. Grandin gives all hope and is truly an inspiration to other people with Autism as well as society as a whole. She is now a professor at Colorado State and it was nice to see her at the GOlden Globes, as Danes accepted the acting award for her role in Temple Grandin.