Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I watched this movie last night on HBO. This was an outstanding movie at many levels. What struck me most intensely was the thought of what could have been. Temple is old enough where her life and contributions might have been diverted into a dark place of institutional placements. The movie did a wonderful job of showing her strengths and weaknesses (smacking a teasing bully who deserved it). Yet, that alone could have brought her significant, negative attention with a corresponding nasty outcome. It was clear that people who saw her gifts allowed Temple the thrills and satisfaction of self expression. Her ability to see things normal brains do not see is extraordinary to learn about. The changes in her chosen (cattle) industry were significant because she saw the world so differently. Things done a certain way for decades and decades take a very powerful force to cause change. As a society we stopped institutionalization for people with differences. One wonders how many Temple Grandin's did not escape that dehumanized fate. The movie makes you consider how many other systems we take for granted that could use a Temple Grandin approach to trying another way.