Temple Grandin on Showcase

I neglected to mention the screening of Temple Grandin on Showcase last night (it happens sometimes!), but it has a replay on October 6th.

If you watched the Emmys then you would know how many awards this one picked up -7- including Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries Or Movie for Claire Danes, and Outstanding Made For Television Movie.

HBO’s film follows an unlikely hero to America’s cattle industry, and to autistic people everywhere.

Temple Grandin is a misunderstood young woman who learned to channel her unique gifts into a brilliant career as a scientist, author and groundbreaking animal advocate.

Based on the writings by its title subject, HBO Films’ Temple Grandin is an engaging portrait of an autistic young woman who became, through timely mentoring and sheer force of will, one of America’s most remarkable success stories.

With a tour de force performance by Claire Danes in the title role, the film chronicles Grandin’s early beginnings as a child diagnosed with autism; her turbulent growth and development during her school years; and the enduring support she received from her mother, her aunt and her science teacher.

Against all odds, Temple eventually transitioned into a highly-functional, esteemed inventor in the cattle industry, which she revolutionized with her scientific research and designs. This visually inventive film offers stunning insights into Grandin’s world, taking the audience inside her mind with a series of snapshot images that trace her self-perceptions and journey from childhood through young adulthood to the beginning of her career, and beyond.

Highlighted by a transformative performance by Claire Danes, Temple Grandin is a fascinating chronicle of one woman’s extraordinary life journey, tracing Grandin’s struggles as a terrified autistic teenager who evolved, with the help of her mother, aunt and academic mentors, into a celebrated academic whose interest in animals, particularly cows and other livestock transformed the way cattle ranches are designed and managed.

Grandin’s unique ability to empathize with the animals she studied led her to devise much more efficient, and humane, ways for the cattle industry to manage their animals, even as they were being led to slaughter.

It is repeated Wednesday October 6th at 10.05am.