Simon Birch is the inspiring and miraculous story of a small boy named...you guessed it...Simon Birch. (I haven't read anything about this...but my keen skills of deduction are leading me to believe that the boy's name was most likely the inspiration for the name of the movie. I know...my skills are just...daunting for you all, right?)
Anyway, Simon, though smaller than the 3rd grade turtledove from the Christmas pageant, is actually not a boy at all, but an inquisitive and eloquent twelve-year-old. Now...I haven't seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but I'm "pretty sure" that the story isn't...how should I say this...possible.
I'm not knocking Benjamin Button, in fact, I'm going to go put in a request for it on the library website right now. Be right back. Okay, no that didn't work...but I will watch it someday. Here's the point that I'm trying to make, despite the fact that I cannot back it up with fact or experience.
Where Benjamin Button is fantastical, Simon Birch is fantastic.
Both Simon Birch (the fictional character) and Ian Michael Smith (the actor playing said fictional character) have Morquio Syndrome. According to Wikipedia, the following are all symptoms of this condition:
- Abnormal heart development
- Abnormal skeletal development
- Hyper mobile joints
- Large fingers
- Knock-knees
- Widely spaced teeth
- Bell shaped chest (ribs flared)
- Compression of spinal cord
- Enlarged heart
- Dwarfism
Patients with Morquio's syndrome appear healthy at birth. They often present with spinal deformity, there is growth retardation or genu valgus in the second or third year of life.
- Short stature (flat vertebrae cause a short trunk), short neck
- Moderate kyphosis or scoliosis
- Mild pectus carinatum (pigeon chest)
- Cervical spine: odontoid hypoplasia, atlanto-axial instability; may be associated with myelopathy with gradual loss of walking ability
- Joint laxity, mild dysostosis multiplex, dysplastic hips, large unstable knees, large elbows and wrists, and flat feet
- The combined abnormalities usually result in a duck-waddling gait
- Mid-face hypoplasia and mandibular protrusion
- Thin teeth enamel
- Corneal clouding
- Mild hepatosplenomegaly
Even with his condition, Simon Birch believes almost unwaveringly that God has a specific purpose for him in this life. The world's chiding does nothing but fuel Simon's belief that God will act through him specifically...that he is an instrument of the Lord. While many might think of him having a purpose or a mission in spite of his challenges, Simon's message to the world is that he has these challenges for this purpose and this mission. The film, based on John Irving's novel entitled A Prayer for Owen Meany, follows both Simon's search for his divine purpose and his best friend Joe's (Joseph Mazello) search for his biologic father.
It's quite possibly impossible for me to tell you all whether I laughed more than I cried or if it was the other way around. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this movie...nothing at all. Would I recommend that you watch this movie? No. I would demand that you watch this movie. It is 114 minutes of tears and laughter, doubt and faith, intolerance and acceptance, and hypocrisy and devotion. It is a brilliantly told story that needs to be heard by all.
Bottom line? Just watch it.
Stay classy, everyone. I'll leave you with a few words from Simon: "Faith is not in a floor plan."
LT
