Rain Man - The ultimate pinnacle of Humanity.

The real Rain Man - KIM PEEK

This movie was inspired by a real life savant KIM PEEK, who lives in Salt Lake city, USA. He is one of the most famous savants till date. The unique nature of Kim Peek is his eidetic memory power. Doctors call it as Photographic memory to make it easy to understand. He was born with Macrocephaly (Relatively large head than the normal people) that damaged his cerebellum. This restricts Kim from thinking and questioning.

Despite his mental disablities, he started improving his memory power by memorizing things from the earlier age of 16-20 months. An interesting information about Kim is that he still practices the habit of placing the books upside down once he had finished reading. He had completed almost 8,000 books and can recall them at any point of time. He usually takes an hour or slightly more to complete a book and remembers everything that he has read. His areas of interest are quite vast that cover history and literature, geography, sports, music and he is more prominent with dates. He does remember all the important dates in history.

Researches done on his brain:
Almost all the major neuro-scientists around the globe have investigated his brain and all the top level universities have done a study on Kim's brain. The most defining moment in Kim's life is when NASA entered into the picture and investigated on his brain in 2004. For information about NASA investigation, click here

Do you really think it is possible to cast away this life into the film roll...??? Yes.. They did it and made it a big success a couple of decennaries ago. It couldn't be big than how it was then..

I personally want to thank and appreciate the story writer Mr. Barry Morrow, the screenplay writer Mr. Ronald Bass and the director of the movie Mr. Barry Levinson for their tremendous effort of making a biography without any exaggeration and cinematic elements. It is always a tough task to make a biography with all the creative content not dominating the course of the movie. It is a movie which we should treasure for our life time, instead most of us have never heard of it even now. It is one of the movies which I admired the most. It made me feel so glad for being a human and most of all, it taught me what HUMANITY means and where it stands?? Each time I watch the movie, I am completely floored by the way they carry the role.

I wonder how they have taken a movie with only three characters roaming all over the movie. They are Raymond Babbit played by legendary actor Dustin Hoffman, Charlie Babbit played by still young Tom Cruise, and the female lead Susanna played by Valeria Golino. They also did justify their stand with their extra-ordinary acting skills. The lead role played by Dustin Hoffman is par excellence. He played as an autistic savant who was institutionalized. His vacant stare, monotone voice and the screaming makes the movie more special.

The charming younger brother played by Tom was equally good. He perfectly matched that flashy, egoistical, hotheaded sibling who undergoes such a subtle change that its almost not visible until it draws close to the end. Susanna even then with a less scope impresses with her prominent acting. Overall its a pleasure watching the movie. It has three great scenes that evidences what this movie deserves.?? The airport screaming, the hotel scene where he spits off a lady's telephone no and finally the most defining scene in the movie is that when Raymond expresses his love for his brother for the first time like this "My main man Charlie".

I admire this movie for its wonderful narration and especially Hoffman's acting. I highly recommend this movie for all the viewers reading this blog and I am sure you will feel the same and share it with your friends. Before watching the movie, I urge you to watch the documentary made on our real Rain Man "KIM PEEK". This gives you the oppurtunity to evaluate how Hoffman portrayed the character on screen.

Movie Info :

Release Date - 12 December 1988. (IMDB rating - 8/10)

Cast
Dustin Hoffman - Raymond Babbit
Tom Cruise - Charlie Babbit
Valeria Golino - Susanna

Crew
Director - Barry Levinson
Story - Barry marrow
Screenplay - Ronald Bass

Movie Trailer:


Documentary on Kim Peek:
Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5