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svartikotturinn · 7 years

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The Accountant (2016): A review

I’m autistic and I loved The Accountant.

The film was far from perfect. Aside from a script that was pretty good but no Anno, the portrayal of autism was hardly nuanced. But it was a huge improvement over most of what I’ve seen so far, and it included something I don’t think I’ve ever seen elsewhere: an autistic character being relaxed and confident when in his element. Sure, the transitions from completely non-functioning to semi-functioning to autism turning invisible were coarse, but they were there. It was the most faithful portrayal in a blockbuster I’ve ever seen: special mention goes to the part where the hero reacts to having his work cut short when he’s so eager to complete it.

SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT.

The film also makes it pretty obvious that the hero’s emotional fuck-ups are first and foremost the result of his upbringing and personal trauma. His father ignores specialists’ advice and his mother points out how stupid that was, his brother ends up in a profession similar to his own without being autistic, and anyone with half a brain would realize that the whole ‘don’t be a victim’ rant his father gives him is insane and not to be taken at face value. (The fact some people lack that modicum of common sense is not the creators’ fault. Jesus fuck I couldn’t even finish this moronic article.)

In general he’s portrayed as a very sympathetic character: heroic but troubled, sympathetic and caring but unable do much about it because of his tragic lifestyle and circumstances. I even liked the part where he flat-out told his client he didn’t like her necklace all too much: I would’ve done the exact same thing, answering honestly when asked while making my benevolence clear, so despite the slight offence I’d present myself as straightforward and reliable. He was underdeveloped, but sympathetic. I also loved seeing how he showed some serious progress from having complete destructive meltdowns to having subdued reactions most of the time, with the methods used shown to be clearly partial in their success and detrimental in other ways.

Also, his operator being a non-verbal autistic was a huge breath of fresh air: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non-verbal autistic person portrayed as anything but a tragic burden in the media, even though they are perfectly capable of being very intelligent and even eloquent in writing. His operator, on the other hand, is intelligent and able to stand by the moral choices she makes, and even shows herself (to a limited degree) as a sexual subject: that level of humanity blew me away.

Finally, his moral choices made me exclaim internally, ‘Finally!’ I don’t know if it’s an autistic thing, but whenever I see a character in a film or a series hesitate all of a sudden instead of shooting the remorseless murderer that is the main villain, often accompanied by some cheesy line like ‘you don’t have the guts to shoot me’ (special mention goes to all the good guys on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Tenma from Monster, and the highlight of the idiocy of the Original Star Wars Trilogy, when Luke is suddenly unwilling to kill Palpatine), I groan and scream (internally, if not alone), ‘Fucking shoot him already before he shoots you and who fucking knows how many other people!’ I don’t know if this specifically is an autistic thing, but I think autistic people are more willing to stop upholding a social contract the other person has decided to violate. At any rate, the hero killing remorseless villains was another breath of fresh air, common sense prevailing.

The whole time, and especially in the twist ending, I kept thinking that this should be a comic book franchise, and I’m pretty sure that’s the intention. And fuck yeah am I stoked for it to come out. An autistic superhero portrayed surprisingly realistically? Hell yeah, I’m on board.

#The Accountant #review #Asperger’s Syndrome #non-verbal autism

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