CH.FILM

Eine ruhige Jacke Switzerland 2010 – 76min.

Movie Rating

Eine ruhige Jacke

Valérie Lobsiger
Movie Rating: Valérie Lobsiger

A therapist tries to communicate with a young apprentice lumberjack who has autism.

Roman, is 28 and loves the forest. Mechanical movement fascinates him and he loves the sound of a chainsaw's motor. Suffering from autism, he doesn't speak and runs away if something is expected of him. Xaver, his therapist, struggles to teach him how to use a chainsaw, but Roman just likes the sound it makes. Each lesson is followed by “facilitated communication”, an attempt to interact with Roman, and he's given a camera to offer access to his world. Will the approach work?

This film by young director Ramòn Giger rests on one hypothesis: the autistic understand language but are incapable of expressing their thoughts, a handicap that is the origin of part of their troubles. It would be nice to believe in “facilitated communication”, in which the “facilitator” (the person assisting the patient) helps the autistic person use an alphabet table. But who is really communicating, the autistic person or the facilitator? With the method contested by science, the audience is hard done by to follow the director's conclusions, according to which Roman has feelings for others.

18.02.2024

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