The Reason I Jump (2020)

Directed by: Jerry Rothwell | 82 minutes | documentary | Starring: Jim Fujiwara, David Mitchell, Jordan O’Donegan

We probably all think we already know quite a bit about autism. Partly because of certain representations in popular culture. ‘Rain Man’ – starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman – was the first major Hollywood film in 1988 to generate widespread attention and awareness, but was also responsible for a number of new prejudices and misunderstandings. The fact is that a lot is still unknown – certainly not to the general public – about autism. In addition, there is also the difficulty that autism covers a very broad spectrum. Yet Jerry Rothwells manages to shed an absolutely necessary new light on the world of autism with ‘The Reason I Jump’, a film based on the book of the same name by Naoki Higoshida, who at the age of thirteen managed to write down his thoughts about his autism. world of autism.

It has become an extraordinarily enlightening, astonishing, compelling, loving film, making an admirable attempt to convey a world of experience that we as outsiders will never fully know. The film makes it very powerfully clear how necessary knowledge and understanding are to be able to communicate with others in a valuable, loving way.

For example, it is heartbreaking to see Amrit’s mother burst into tears when she tells how she had reacted incorrectly – or not so ideally – to her daughter’s behavior for years. Simply because she didn’t know how she interprets the world around her, what she (roughly) feels and what she needs. Higoshida’s book opened her eyes and their bond improved enormously.

It turns the book into a sort of doorway to a new world, which until now has always remained hidden. The reader – and through the film: the viewer – gets a unique insight into the head and perception of a (non-speaking) autist. How it can take a while to notice that it is raining, because again and again previous experiences with rain have to be linked to this event. Or how time is not linear, but all moments appear as separate, random points on a sheet of paper. So that something that has just happened or been told can be as fresh in the memory as something from 20 years ago. This aspect emerges through the story of English Joss, who suddenly calls out something related to an event from when he was 3 years old.

The film also makes it clear that there does not have to be a cognitive disorder; the correct concept is often ‘just’ there, but cannot find its way out. In addition to Amrit and Joss, we follow three more children/young adults and their parents who have come to this realization and who try to lead such a loving and valuable life together. Sometimes it is necessary to create more awareness in the community, especially in Sierra Leone, where Jestina and her parents have to deal with a lot of superstition (and misunderstanding) and Jestina and other autistic people are seen as devil’s children.

There are still misconceptions in the West. For example, there is sometimes the idea that autistics prefer to be alone, while usually the opposite is the case. They just want to connect with others. The only question is how this can best be achieved. For Ben and Emma in Virginia, especially the use of a letter board has proved to be a breakthrough. Because autistic people usually function well with their motor skills, and especially the translation of thoughts into speech is a problem, they can often get very far by pointing the words in their head letter by letter using a letter or sometimes a keyboard.

Piercing a board with letters with a pencil, Ben manages to formulate all kinds of complex answers, about Argentine history, about his feelings for the (also autistic) Emma (“She’s my north star.”; “She’s bad ass.”), and about how autists themselves can improve the dialogue about autism: ‘By being part of that dialogue’. Jerry Rothwell’s movie and Higoshida’s book have already started the conversation, but there’s still plenty of room at the table. Are you moving too?