I watched this film after having watched the excellent documentary it's based on "My Family and Autism". And I can't help but be left disappointed. I really wanted to like this film. But I don't think it captured the brilliance and energy of the real family at all, especially the core and heart of the family: their mother. I know it's really hard to remain true to your subject, there will always be some changes to make it movie-worthy exciting and more dramatic, but the character Maggi just doesn't measure up at all to the woman she's inspired by, Jacqui Jackson. After watching the documentary, I was just amazed and so impressed by Ms. Jackson's infectious sense of humour and how warm, down-to-earth, and loving her family was. She's an incredible, driven, independent, and intelligent woman. The film didn't really show this at all. The real Ms. Jackson has a first class honours degree in social science and a PhD in design and sensory issues in ASD. (This is jaw-dropping as she is the single mother of 7 kids! Where did she find the energy or the time??) She is totally dedicated to helping her children, constantly working with them to learn new skills. She's a trustee and member of the Scientific and Advisory Committee for Reseach Autism and is a published author. And she does this and has been doing this ON HER OWN. The movie portrayed the Maggi character as being a bit too overwhelmed and unsure how to handle challenges, reluctant to try new things with her kids. I'm still baffled as to why they wrote her character as only having her GCSEs... why would they do that, if not to make her appear less accomplished and capable than she actually is? Even going so far as to have a male character come in and save the day to show her how to help her kids and make her life better. Really? While I admit the character was warm, dedicated, and caring, to be sure, she was nowhere near the self-assured, spirited woman I saw in the documentary. A bit sad, really, because the other parts of the movie were really sweet. The acting was fabulous. They just really dropped it when it came to portraying the mother.
Review of Magnificent 7
