Review of Wonder (2017) by Shpostal — 18 Nov 2017

I will admit by the end of the movie that while it was done well, and truly draws out genuine emotion out of the viewer (a few guys in the theater were dabbing their eyes, too), I found it almost too realistic in one aspect that was a major part of the story - bullying.

I was a victim of incessant and relentless bullying as a junior high schooler through about the ninth grade by a bunch of cowardly rednecks who delighted in making miserable anybody who wasn't athletic and especially if they were from somewhere else (my family moved from a Midwest state to the South when I was 12) and were smarter.

While I fortunately didn't have the deformities that afflicts the hero of this picture, I nonetheless recall the horrible treatment I received without any justification, and lived in a virtual state of terror until high school when I grew up a lot, and one of the ringleaders moved.

The rest didn't have the brains to carry on his orders against me. So, even today at 56 sometimes the memories haunt me. So while I never reciprocated and bullied anybody younger or weaker than me, seeing that it would be just as bad as those who were harassing me, resentment and anger helped scar my life well into my early '20's.

This is important because "Wonder" does a good job of showing how terrible, mean and stupid our "precious" kids can be. While the movie ends well, and is done thoughtfully with fine acting by all involved, it does give us an idea of what some of our kids suffer through, with or without a disability.

In one scene, one particularly mean little jerk is sent to the administrator's office for numerous verbal and other attacks against "Auggie", his parents are defensive, belligerent, and refuse to believe their little angel could be capable of the very acts he's committing.

And frankly, in the real world, victimized kids don't turn the school into admirers except maybe for a more compassionate and intelligent friend or two. I don't recommend this movie for anybody being bullied, or who suffered at the hands of these cretins, boys or girls.

It may be just too painful to relive. It touched a life long raw nerve with me, and while it's a fine movie, I do not want to see it again. Society is full of adult bullies too - bosses, co-worker idiots, stupid neighbors, control freaks, who can't handle anything that isn't their way, abusers of all sorts, etc.

I don't want to pay to see that behavior.