The Horse Boy is a documentary of a family's journey through Mongolia. The parents of a four year old son with autism are hoping that the journey will be one of healing for their son and for themselves. The dad, Rupert Isaacson, is a world wide travel writer and, at one time, a professional horse trainer. He is struggling, along with his wife, Kristen, in raising Rowan who is not yet toilet trained and given to lengthy tantrums or meltdowns. The parents observe Rowan's love of animals. Rupert becomes the driving force to bring the family to Mongolia for two reasons. The first is for Rowan to be in a environmentally purer environment with access to horses and reindeer. Secondly, the shamans of Mongolia will hold healing ceremonies for Rowan. As a special education teacher, I found this documentary very interesting but am not sure what to make of it. After a healing session was held by the Shaman of the Reindeer People, Rowan toiled trained himself and became more social and spent more time playing with other children.
The documentary shows the love of a family as they go to great unconventional lengths to help their child. The film also shows the stresses on the family, as a unit and individually, as they deal on a daily basis with family members with autism. This film gives a lot of food for thought.
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