Wonder

Here is a movie that could have gone wrong in so many ways, and yet it finds so many ways to go right.  From the trailers, I feared that Wonder was going to be a sappy and preachy story about a little boy with a facial deformity who deals with bullies and rises above it all with the patience and knowledge of a Saint.  But co-writer and director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) avoids sentimentality, and instead gives us something that is genuinely uplifting, cheerful, and even surprising in some regards.

What surprised me the most is that the movie is not just about little August "Auggie" Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), but also about the people around him.  The movie is divided into chapters, where we get to see things from the point of view of the different people around him.  We see how his older sister Via (Izabela Vidovic) often feels invisible because of all the attention Auggie gets because of his medical condition that causes his deformity.  We also learn that Via is dealing with the fact that her best friend Miranda (Danielle Rose Russell) is no longer speaking to her for reasons she is not sure of.  And then, later on in the film, we get to see things from Miranda's point of view, and we learn what has happened.  I can understand how this approach might sound kind of ungainly and gimmicky, and I'm sure the approach is borrowed from the bestselling novel by R.J. Palacio.  But it works here, and it's certainly refreshing that the movie never once tries to victimize its main character, and opens us to the opinions and thoughts of the people around him.

Aside from Auggie's face, he's a pretty standard 10-year-old kid.  He loves Star Wars, video games, Halloween, and dreams of going to outer space one day. (His favorite piece of clothing is an astronaut's helmet that he wears as much as possible.)  He's been homeschooled his whole life by his mother Isabel (Julia Roberts), who gave up on her own dreams so that she could look after him.  Now that he's starting 5th grade, she thinks it's time he goes to a public school with other children.  She figures that everyone is starting Middle School at the same time as Auggie, so he won't be the only kid who's scared about being in a new place.  His father Nate (Owen Wilson) is not so sure, and is worried how others will react to him, but goes along with the plan.  The film follows Auggie's first full year at a public school, how he makes friends, and how he deals with those who will not accept him.  He knows that his face will never allow him to be seen as "normal", so he does his best to handle his own situation.  He has a sense of humor, too.  When a kid asks him why he's never had plastic surgery done, Auggie answers that his face is after plastic surgery. (Which is the truth.  He's needed several surgeries in order to keep him alive, and help him see and hear better.)

Auggie is not a saintly little movie kid who has all the answers, or is wise beyond his years.  He misbehaves, and he can be selfish sometimes.  Sometimes his parents even have to raise their voices at him.  He also has to be reminded that the world does not revolve around him, just because of his problems.  At home, he is usually the center of attention.  This is where his sister Via comes into the plot.  Their grandmother (who has since passed away) was the main one in the family who would spend time alone with her, so she's still dealing with that.  She also starts a relationship with a student at her school named Justin (Nadji Jeter), who inspires her to try out for the drama club.  She initially tells him she's an only child, not to spite her younger brother, but maybe because she likes having someone who is truly interested in her and her alone.

For the most part, Wonder avoids the sentimental trappings that movies like these tend to revel in.  We do get the scene where Auggie hears a boy whom we thought was his friend talking behind his back, and Auggie refuses to speak to the boy for a while.  But again, the movie gives us the friend's point of view as well, and we learn what truly happened.  That's really why the movie works as well as it does.  It's not about jerking tears from the audience or making this boy at the center of the film come across as larger than life.  It's humble, and it opens up its story to multiple points of view.  We get to see Auggie from all angles.  In a way, the film is somewhat similar to the recently released Lady Bird.  Both are simple coming of age stories that take place during the year in the life of a kid, and their individual discoveries.  There are no artificial crises, and no manufactured plot contortions and conveniences to get in the way.

This is not just a movie that earns its sentiment naturally, but it also treats the audience as intelligent individuals.  It never talks down, and it never condescends or has its main kid act "cute" for the sake of getting laughs.  It's simple and pure, and it's all the better for this.  The real wonder here is how great this film turned out.

0 comments