The Black Balloon: Sensitivity Relationships

One more wonderful movie that featured at Cannes 2008 is the film The Black Balloon. Directed by Elissa Down, The Black Balloon reflects true sentiments of a specially abled autistic child, family bonding in times of crises as well as sensitivity of relationships to cope with growing up and everyday living.

Rating: 3.7/5
Film: The Black Balloon
Director: Elissa Down
Cast: Rhys Wakefield, Gemma Ward, Luke Ford, Eric Thomson, Toni Collette
Run time: 97 minutes

The Black Balloon movie is co-written by Elissa Down; so it has been possible for her to portray the pressure that a family bears when there is a special child. She could also do good justice for another reason; she grew up with two autistic brothers and in her lay a volcano of experiences and in the film The Black Balloon, I believe, all of it erupted.

In the film The Black Balloon, Toni Collette plays an amazing role as Maggie, the mother of the autistic child Charlie Mollison (played by Luke Ford). Charlie is a sweet and lovable 17-year-old teen who has a sibling named Thomas Mollison.

Thomas is a growing up brat who is used to new schools and new towns but grows to be a shy boy. He loves his brother Charlie, takes care of him but at the same time is at times embarrassed to have a sibling like him. Again, Thomas was a subject of mockery amongst his friends and used to get teased as well.

On one occasion, it was discovered by his friends, that Thomas does not know to swim, being 16 years of age and he becomes a laughing stock to peers.

However, amidst this group, there was a girl named Jackie played by Gemma Ward who has some crush for Thomas. Thomas becomes suffocated to handle this relationship; his first instinct being hiding the identity of his brother Charlie from Jackie as he always thought him to be a social embarrassment.

At the home front, Maggie becomes pregnant for the third time and she would be advised bed rest. When Simon the father of the two children Charlie and Thomas is not in town, it is Thomas who always runs the show at home. He takes care of his brother Charlie who at times can be sweet and quiet while at other times simply becomes unmanageable. He suffers from terrible mood swings and as he cannot speak he expresses his irritability by throwing tantrums like running in the neighborhood in his underpants, creating a ruckus in the supermarket or simply by rubbing his face against dirty carpet. Thomas is expected to protect Charlie from this kind of outbursts so that Charlie does not hurt himself.

The film needs to be felt as it reflects a very delicate mix of pain and tenderness amidst a feeling of void and numbness. Maggie loves Charlie as a mother, and she has accepted the fact that he cannot be changed. The other element of the story speaks of the unconditional love between Maggie and Simon apart from being intensely bonded in marriage. They cannot put Charlie away, a fact understood by Thomas with some reservations.

In The Black Balloon, it is Jackie who makes a very strong impact with her warmth and affection. She not only accepts Charlie for what he is but also helps him to identify himself. It is Gemma Ward’s first substantial role from the days of professional modeling, and she has done immense justice to it.

Luke Ford’s performance as Charlie has been very powerful and convincing as well. His past performance in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has been praiseworthy. Rhys Wakefield who played Thomas did well too without overacting. He did present his inner turmoil in a very reticent yet acceptable manner.

And, finally, worth watching is Toni Collete’s performance and the way she made the audience believe the reasons for her family to be united and bonded without much effort.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 7th, 2009 at 6:11 pm and is filed under 2008 Releases, Drama, Movie Reviews . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.