Phoebe in Wonderland

[Guest guest]

Aloha listmates,

 

http://phoebeinwonderland.com/

 

Just had the amazing opportunity to watch the debut of this new movie on the

Lifetime Movie Network! Entitled " Phoebe in Wonderland, it is a brilliant expose

into the mind of a young girl who is coming to terms with being " different. "

 

It depicts the struggle of her family to recognize the truth...her mom, (played

beautifully by Felicity Huffman) a writer, is tortured because she believes her

daughter is so different because she has failed her as a mom, even rejecting the

reality of the words given to her by a psychiatrist that will explain her

daughter's difficult behaviors...which include " talking " to Wonderland

characters, to work out her fears, that only she can see, OCD behaviors which

result in self-injury, and seemingly " echolalia " which is misinterpreted as

mocking mimickry...not to mention her impulsive, aggressive behaviors toward her

peers.

Phoebe finds her niche when she is cast to be Alice in their school play, by her

drama teacher, who sees the potential in her, and thus, in her " Wonderland, "

Phoebe finds some solace...

 

My favorite scene in the movie is when the main character Phoebe has just been

suspended from the school play by the school principal for her inappropriate

behavior-spitting on her classmates...Phoebe has an insightful exchange with her

drama teacher that moved me to tears...I'm sure in

their own way, each of our children will one day discover that they, too, are

different; if only our children can have as wise a mentor in that moment...

 

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(Phoebe) " I'm don't want to do those things, or say those things-I just have to.

Except here...everywhere else I feel ugly... "

(And then...her drama teacher gives her a wonderful gift...)

(Miss Dodger) " I want to tell you something-which may not make any sense...but I

should say it, just so that one day you might remember it and maybe it will make

you feel better...At a certain point in your life, probably when too much of it

has gone by, you will open your eyes and see yourself for who you are;

especially for everything that made you so different from all the awful

" normals " and you will say to yourself-But I AM this person and in that

statement, that correction-there will be a kind of...love... "

(Phoebe) " I'm so scared... "

(Miss Dodger) " We all are... "

 

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In the last five minutes of the film, we finally discover the words Phoebe's

psychiatrist shared with her mom. " Tourette's syndrome " ...as Phoebe finally

gives her classmates her own " freeing " lesson about her disability...

 

And for a while there, I thought she was autistic...there are so many

similarities, and I never knew that before today...

 

Hope you can see the movie one day...

 

Desi