A Mother's Courage: Talking Back to Autism (2009) Sólskinsdrengurinn (original title)

Director:

Friðrik Þór Friðriksson

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Unlocking an autistic mind

Plot:

The mother of an autistic child is determined not to accept the pessimistic prognosis for her son.

Plot Keywords:

Autism | Hope

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Margrét Dagmar Ericsdóttir	...	Documentary Host
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David G. Amaral	...	Himself - Interviewee
Simon Baron-Cohen	...	Himself - Interviewee
David Crowe	...	Himself - Interviewee
Taylor Crowe	...	Himself - Interviewee
Geraldine Dawson	...	Herself - Interviewee
Temple Grandin	...	Herself - Interviewee
Lisa Helt	...	Herself - Interviewee
Portia Iversen	...	Herself - Interviewee
Linda Lange	...	Herself - Interviewee
Catherine Lord	...	Herself - Interviewee
Joseph E. Morrow	...	Himself - Interviewee
Soma Mukhopadhyay	...	Herself - Interviewee
Tito Mukhopadhyay	...	Himself - Interviewee
Sally Rogers	...	Herself - Interviewee
Jonathan Shestack	...	Himself - Interviewee
Candace Smith	...	Herself - Interviewee
Vernon L. Smith	...	Himself - Interviewee
Thorkil Sonne	...	Himself - Interviewee
Brenda Terzich	...	Herself - Interviewee
Kate Winslet	...	Narrator

Directed by
Friðrik Þór Friðriksson

Produced by
Margrét Dagmar Ericsdóttir	....	producer
John Purdie	....	associate producer
Kristín Ólafsdóttir	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Jón Karl Helgason

Film Editing by
Þuríður Einarsdóttir

Sound Department
Kjartan Kjartansson	....	sound
Ingvar Lundberg	....	sound re-recording mixer
Björn Viktorsson	....	supervising sound editor

Other crew
Vilborg Einarsdottir	....	research and associate production manager
Hlín Jóhannesdóttir	....	assistant to producers
Thessa Mooij	....	publicist
Alana Odegard	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Frontier Filmworks
• Klikk Production (in association with)

Distributors

• First Run Features (2010) (USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Silversalt PR  publicity

Also Known As:

"Sólskinsdrengurinn" - Iceland (original title)
"The Sunshine Boy" - International (English title)

Runtime:

Canada:103 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | USA:103 min

Country:

Iceland

Language:

Icelandic | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Frontier Filmworks

a compassionate, at times heart-wrenching, and informative documentary

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

THE SUNSHINE BOY is a feature length documentary from Iceland about autism. Narrated by Oscar-winner Kate Winslet, it reveals a lot of startling statistics. One out of every 150 children will be diagnosed with some form of autism; the illness is four times more prevalent in boys than in girls; and 80% of marriages between parents of autistic children end in divorce. These disturbing statistics are fairly common in most countries around the world. But the film also defuses some of the myths surrounding autism. Many sufferers are quite intelligent but are unable to express themselves or demonstrate their knowledge adequately. Directed by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, the film follows Margaret Ericsdottir, a mother of Keli, her eleven-year-old autistic son, who is frustrated by the lack of treatment available in her native Iceland. Determined to discover as much as she can about this insidious affliction, her quest takes her to America and a number of experts and institutions that are working hard to perfect treatments to help sufferers. She also talks to a number of families with autistic children to find out more about how they cope. Her search eventually takes her to Austin Texas, where a program known as HALO (Helping Autism through Learning and Outreach) is having remarkable results.

Also known as A Mother's Courage: Talking Back To Autism, this is a compassionate, at times heart-wrenching, and informative documentary that also offers a glimmer of hope and is a realistic counterpoint to Hollywood films like Rain Man. There is some unnecessary padding here, and the film could have been trimmed and still make its points effectively.