Films involving Learning Difficulties

Learning Difficulties (Mental Retardation): Major Films

Title	Sling Blade (1996)
Alternative/Original Title	Reckoning
Disability	Learning difficulty
Country	USA
Length	136
Genre	Drama
Rating	5
Director	Billy Bob Thornton
Cast	Billy Bob Thornton Dwight Yoakam J.T. Walsh John Ritter Lucas Black Natalie Canerday James Hampton Robert Duvall
Notes	At age 12 a boy with learning difficulties murdered his mother and her boyfriend. 25 years later he is released from mental hospital supposedly cured. This could be a re-run of Halloween but instead it is a finely detailed study of a (redneck?) community and the man himself. After making friends with a boy he is invited home and invited to live in the garage of the boy's mother. A superb film, don't be deterred by the beginning which is a monologue explaining why the boy killed. Thornton is great as actor, writer and director. You rarely see someone with learning difficulties so convincing portrayed. There are improbabilities (the mother offering such a strange man a place in her home) and clichTs (the man's friendship with the young boy, his skill with machines) but these are absorbed into a finely woven picture of small town life. Great support casting and good to see John Ritter back on form. One of the boyfriend's mates is in a wheelchair. If you're into the art of directing look out for the unusual though not intrusive camera angles, and the scenes shot without the camera moving. One result of this is to put you in the position of a witness to the events.

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