The Boy Who Could Fly

Mother Charlene sheds tears over the loss of her husband Donald. (0:08)

High school student Milly's brother Louis buries his toy soldier Duke after, "A sniper got him." (0:15)

High school student Milly tells her mother Charlene about neighbor Eric, "They think he's autistic... He's never spoken a word in his life and he doesn't like to be around people. There's some institute that wants to take him away... When Eric was five years old, his parents went on a trip to Spain or France or someplace like that. The plane crashed, and his parents died... Eric... started to pretend to fly. It's like somehow he knew that his parents were about to crash. The way he figured he could save them was by being an airplane. He's been one ever since." (0:17)

Uniformed attendants escort Eric, restrained in a camisole, from a car to his bedroom. Ms. Sherman (?) orders them, "Take that damned straight jacket off him." (0:19)

Eric turns away when Milly addresses him. (0:22)

Eric shows Milly a picture of him with his parents. (0:29)

Uncle Hugo asks Milly, "Are you calling me a drunk?... It's more polite to be called a drunk than a mad man..." (0:31)

Geneva tells Milly, "You can't be in love with a retard." (0:36)

Eric and Milly mimic each others actions. (0:38)

Erica sheds tears as she watches a home movie of her deceased father. (0:54)

In the hospital after she is injured in a fall, psychiatrist Dr. Granada (Remember her as nurse Ratched in Cuckoo's Nest?) approaches Milly who asks, "What are you, a shrink?" Dr. Granada responds, "Let me be the judge of whether you're wacko or not." She goes on to say she understands Milly's father "committed suicide not long ago." Milly tells her after he was diagnosed with cancer in order to keep the family from suffering he "went away." (1:06)

Eric and what appears to be a psychiatric ward. (1:15)

Panorama of burial sites for Louis's toy soldiers. (1:18)

Louis tells Milly, "Dad quit." (1:22)

Eric speaks. (1:34)

Dr. Karyn Siegel on television speculates, "The children in an adolescent sexual frenzy somehow mesmerized the crowd." (1:39)

Autistic Disorder | Bereavement | camisole | echokinesis | mutism | psychiatric hospital | psychiatrist | suicide