Hors Normes, English name the specials, Chinese name "Beyond the Standard", I feel that this is a very humanistic film. There is a group of autistic children who are "outside of the norm", and many are rejected by the hospital because they are too troublesome. There is a group of problem youths who are "outside the standard" and are abandoned by society. There are two "outside the standard" people who opened an agency to let troubled youth help autistic children while helping themselves, but the government has repeatedly wanted to close this agency because it is not within the system.
This is a film based on a true French story, and many of the actors in the play are indeed autistic. After watching the movie, I first thought of social work, then society, and then myself. Most of us are within the norm, and it's our luck to feel like survivors at times. However, not sure when we might be outside the norm, like when we get old and get dementia, will we be accepted by society then? Or will it be abandoned? I recently read about the woman locked up in Xuzhou and felt very uneasy. She said "the world doesn't want me anymore", is this her own misfortune? Some say she's mentally ill, is she born that way? How did she become out of the norm and then abandoned? Will I, we, our children become outside the next standard? I hope that everyone within and outside the standard is treated fairly and kindly, and everyone is free from the threat of being abandoned.
View more about The Specials reviews
