Issue date: 11/26/09 Section: Film & Music

The Horse Boy explores autism, faith, and the inexplicable Photo: Zeitgeist Films

There is a happy wonder to Michael Orion Scott's The Horse Boy, with its disregard for clear-cut conviction. Though the film documents a family's struggle to find healing for their autistic child in the spiritual practices of Mongolian nomads, it does not rush to proclaim that shamanism can cure autism or that spirituality and animals can cure all human afflictions. Instead, it watches, like a patient observer (is that not what a documentary should be?) and considers the wonder of a touching and telling story.

It's a story, however, that begins in tantrums, screams, and frustration. Journalist Rupert Isaacson and his wife Professor Kristin Neff struggle with the autism of their son Rowan. Unable to communicate with other children or his parents, Rowan is subject to violent outbursts that are truly wrenching to watch. Ever since he was diagnosed with the disease the four-year old has found no solace except with animals. The affection he gives and receives from horses is mysterious and the first hint of the mystical in this film.

Having witnessed the healing power of shaman doctors in Africa, Rupert lands upon the idea of traveling to Mongolia's nomadic tribes to cure Rowan. It was there, in the country's northernmost tip, that humans first rode animals (reindeer to be exact)- and, more importantly, it is there that shamanism is intrinsically tied with horseback riding. Only 200 of these reindeer herders are left, and their shaman, Rupert hopes, may have the power to cure his son.

Despite Kristin's skepticism in the plan, the family travels to the grimy post-Soviet city of Ulan Bator and then treks by van and horse to the Russian border. Amid the windy and bare beauty of the steppes, Rowan finds instants of happiness as well as nerve-wracking hourly breakdowns. Both parents hold up admirably, but even Rupert questions whether bringing his son here was the right thing to do- something I was asking myself while I watched Rowan's suffering.

Along the way a group of shamans put the family through some rituals, at times grueling (both parents are whipped repeatedly) and always unfamiliar. But halfway through the ceremony a wondrous change occurs in Rowan. He spontaneously hugs the son of their Mongolian guide, socializing and communicating on an unprecedented level. The tantrums and autism are still present, yet something is shifting in Rowan and across the Mongolian landscape. The director, like Rupert and Kristin, does not pounce on spiritual healing as a miraculous cure, and chooses instead to present the unexplainable and gradual transformation of their son.

The harsh realities of autism are not forgotten during the trip: Kristin and Rupert express their fear that Rowan will turn into a 14-year old who can't use a toilet and then into a lonely, vulnerable, and isolated adult. But as the family draws closer to the reindeer herders, The Horse Boy develops into a broad meditation on the nature of autism, faith and the acceptance of the inexplicable. The film's strongest points are the brief but dazzling moments of freedom Rowan finds in running across the plains or playing with his parents. This view into Rowan's mind, however shattered and fragmented it might be by autism, is the emotional payoff for watching the darkest depths of his misery.

Scott's conclusion is definitely not black and white; not everyone is convinced that the experience of shamanism helped Rowan. What is more certain, in a film full of uncertainties, is how the power of discovery and adventure brought together a family and made the world a little clearer- and happier- for a suffering child.

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