I’m neither a movie buff nor is this a movie review but, apart from an unwitting Biblical innuendo that stood out, here’s why I give the 2017 flick ‘Wonder’, a 10 out of 10
I honestly should have heard of a film that boasts stars like Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Mandy Patinkin much sooner than late 2019. But, certain circumstances at my end got a friend to send it my way and much prodding later, to finally watch it yesterday. I’m not sure if you heard of ‘Wonder’, but trust me, go watch it.
#ChooseKind
You know my story by now so I’ll cut to the chase. The movie is about Auggie Pullman, a kid born with a rare craniofacial condition, or facial deformity that has confined him to the four walls of his home his whole life. Pretty much the only life he’s known until he enters the fifth grade and becomes the most unlikely of heroes. Homeschooled by mom, he is a science whiz, has a sly humour and an overactive imagination that helps him through his first solo year in public life.
A movie that gets you to reach deep down to where compassion, understanding and acceptance dwell. It simply is about being who you were born to be and getting the world to “get it”.
Wonder has it all – an underdog, his doting parents, the bigger sister unsure of how to deal with things, bullies, a tight plot and last but not least a tough-as-nails mother who would lay it all on the line for her son
While the film’s poster leads you to believe the title is inspired by a spacesuit-clad Auggie’s sense of wonder at the star-studded universe, it actually is his mother and her loving “you are a wonder,” that sets the tone for the final outcome.
The NASA helmet is a film constant – physically worn by Auggie to hide his deformities and metaphorically to represent his dreams of becoming an astronaut and a hero. Astronaut regalia is constantly used for those “small wins” to portray his joy and happiness through the film.
Wonder hit home on two counts – the strength my younger brother Alan showed in living a very similar life on his own terms and the things I’ve learned in the last two years of my life – it parallels both quite well actually
Here’s why I recommend you take a break from Netflix and get your hands on a copy during Lockdown 4.0
Director Stephen Chbosky’s (The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Beauty and the Beast) telling of this delicate tale from the perspective of everyone involved opened me up to looking at my world with a wider lens. Remember, when things go wrong in your life, its not you against the world. There are others impacted and others willing to take up the burden to make things right again. Just a truthful telling of life with the right dose of sentimentality. And forget the melodrama. I didn’t get a hint of any.
The film was so relatable and real to me because its a telling from multiple perspectives. Narrated by the main character Auggie mostly, others’ viewpoints are factored in as interspersed comments. The high-school sister Via who loves him, but hates the attention he commands, best friend Jack who returns to his old snobbish group of bullies after a misunderstanding or Summer, who joins him in the cafetria out of pity but stays on because of who he is as a person.
Though kids with facial differences gave the movie a resounding thumbs-up, others, as is oft want, ripped it apart. Why? Because the book isn’t based on a real character and neither the author nor the child playing the main character Auggie in the movie have deformities. Sigh!
After my facial surgery, I became so dependant on face masks in public that my family and friends genuinely worried for my state-of-mind. This movie was their way of showing me that not everybody judges by appearance and that everything at the end of the day was “in my head”. They were right!
Wonder showed me exactly that
Don’t judge – as people get closer to Auggie, the physical fades and his inner beauty shines through. This is at the core of the message Wonder tries to deliver. I don’t specifically recall ever not being nice to someone in this kind of a situation but after what I have been through. it’s a heightened drive of making a better effort.
You are the author of your own happiness – as I mentioned earlier, it is all in your head. Auggie teaches us this simple lesson through the course of the movie.
Dont be bitter – the bullying, though hard to watch, is pivotal to the message of Wonder. Auggie passes with flying colours and so can you.
Put yourself in others’ shoes – everyone is fighting their own battles but some are better at masking them. Be kind!
Mom is always the hero – though she puts her life on hold for Auggie, his mom is the pillar that makes him who he is. Always remember the hands that raised and nurtured you.
It takes courage and kindness to build Character – the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness.”
“You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out”
This scripture in the Old Testament book of Isaiah is a direct prophesy on the greatest historychanger of all time hundreds of years before he was born – Jesus Christ. I’m not sure if the author or makers of Wonder subtly factored this in or is in any way intentend to highlight the unusal life of the “rejected” Saviour but its storyline and message of “you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out” sure reminded me of it.
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
While we know how the story of Jesus finally unfolded in the New Testament, how the actual story of Auggie came about and its Biblical connections are still a mystery
The Title – From the internet I gather that Natalie Merchant’s 1995 song “Wonder” led to the novel and the novel to the film. Merchant was reportedly inspired to write the song by her experience of working at a summer camp for special needs children.
To end, here are some inspirational quotes from the book and movie that has the power to change lives and inspire kindness
“It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.”
“The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you.”
“I didn’t destroy a Death Star or anything like that, but I did just get through the fifth grade. And that’s not easy, even if you’re not me.”
“I wish every day could be Halloween. We could all wear masks all the time. Then we could walk around and get to know each other before we got to see what we looked like under the masks.”
“A fresh start gives us the chance to reflect on the past, weigh the things we’ve done, and apply what we’ve learned from those things to the future. If we don’t examine the past, we don’t learn from it.”
“You don’t need your eyes to love, right? You just feel it inside you. That’s how it is in heaven. It’s just love, and no one forgets who they love.”
“But I really believe, and Daddy really believes, that there are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other and take care of each other.”
“We carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness.”
“Learning who you are is what you are here to do.”
“The best way to measure how much you’ve grown isn’t by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average — though those things are important, to be sure. It’s what you’ve done with your time, how you’ve chosen to spend your days, and whom you’ve touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.”
Pictures Courtesy – Lionsgate
Though Wonder is not based on a true story, it is inspired by real events. Writer R.J. Palacio was inspired to write a story about a child with facial deformity after a trip to the ice cream store. She was forced to examine her own mindset when she and her children left abruptly after her three-year-old son became frightened sitting next to a girl with a facial deformity
To help ground the cast in reality, Jacob Tremblay who plays Auggie in particular was made to visit kids with facial differences and exchanged letters with kids who were willing to share their experiences with him.
“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right use of strength. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own..” — Mr. Tushman
If the book or movie doesn’t change your perspective on life, whatever your takeaway, remember one thing – it doesn’t hurt to be kind. Try It!
Derek J. Wheeler 
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