Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
THIS week my neighbour and her children kindly invited my nine-year-old to join them at the cinema to watch the new movie, Wonder.
My son left home excitedly, what’s not to love about sitting in a dark movie theatre faced with the biggest screen, accompanied by your friends and a huge tub of warm buttery popcorn?
However, I wasn’t prepared of the lasting impression the movie would make on him.
Based on the New York Times bestseller, it tells the story of a boy with facial differences who, for the first time, attends a mainstream school in the fifth grade, meeting cruel bullies and making good friends.
The movie has clear positive messages with true friendship and perseverance being strong themes throughout.
With bullying reaching epidemic levels, approximately 160,000 teens skip school every day due to bullying and it occurs in our own communities too.
The film’s firm stand against bullying brings out a well-needed strong message for the audience, especially the 10 to 16 years age group.
My son talked about the movie when he got home, whilst he ate his dinner, through the bathroom door and during bedtime.
Then again at breakfast.
He was so moved by the movie experience, and wanted to tell me all the things the 10-year-old boy, August, had experienced and why people reacted to him the way they did and why August reacted the way he did.
Talking about the movie made my son emotional but he can’t wait to watch it again and it definitely sent him home with a positive message.
One of my brothers has a genetic disorder called Fragile X, which causes intellectual disability and some obvious physical characteristics. I was able to chat to my son about some of the similarities his uncle has to August and how it is important to embrace difference.
Hopefully, kids who watch this film will come away with an important message, as a wise man once said: ‘when given a choice between being right and being kind, choose kind’.
