An incredible premise

‘The Reason I Jump’ is a documentary about different cases of Non-Verbal autism across the world. It was directed by award winning filmmaker, Jerry Rothell, who also directed ‘Sour Grapes’ and ‘How to change the World’, and is based off of a book by Naogi Higashida, with the same name. 

This movie combines sweeping landscapes, inspiring tales, amazing acting, and beautiful cinematography to speak out about a topic with so much misinformation surrounding it: autism. Many have tried and failed to make respectful and inspiring movies about Autism. One such example is ‘Music’, made by famous singer Sia, in which the cast was made up entirely of actors without autism, despite the many spectacular actors with autism that could’ve been casted. This film succeeds where others didn’t, and portrays autism as a different way of looking at the world. There is also a colorful cast of parents with autism, such as David Mitchell, and Naogi Higashida himself. This movie is surely a marvel in modern cinema.

What Made this film amazing

There is so much good in this film, that it’s hard to start with any one aspect. The cinematography was amazing, the use of color and space in the natural world was other-worldly and beautiful. There was one shot where the Japanese boy is seen walking through a field, with electrical poles spanning in a seemingly endless loop. Another shot includes a boy in an endless array of walls in a “U” shape. Both of which symbolize the vastness of the human mind, and our own imagination within cognitive ability. 

The 5 tales themselves were inspiring. They didn’t focus on one aspect of autism too heavily. It told the struggles just as masterfully as the creativity and skillset spawned from each person. The part that made this film incredible for me was the messages, in which this film truly reaches above and beyond. The exploration of the spectrum, how different minds see the world differently, themes about togetherness through creativity are all there and it is amazing.

In conclusion

‘The Reason I Jump’ is a must watch for everybody, and I mean everybody. The power that this film encapsulates is stunning, and will surely heal us during these difficult times. If you are in need of a beautiful film, I can’t recommend this one enough.