Happy (very slightly belated) Easter, Everyone! Hope you have all enjoyed wonderful and meaningful celebrations of a holiday that centers around the redeeming sacrifice and love of Jesus Christ. Although Rain Man doesn’t offer us gospel truth about resurrection and salvation, it does present a story about a man who (re-)meets someone who changes his life forever–for the better.
All arrogant and cocky Charlie Babbitt cares about at the beginning of the film is money and sex. When his father (from whom he is estranged due to a disagreement they’d had regarding his dad’s classic car) passes away, Charlie is outraged to learn that the family fortune has been given to a mental institution. Upon visiting the institution, Charlie discovers that he has an older brother, Raymond, who is autistic. Charlie is shocked, to be sure, but he quickly gets over his surprise and formulates a plan to kidnap Raymond and hold him ransom for half of their father’s estate–an arrangement which only seems fair to the entitled Charlie.
Thus, the brothers begin an epic road trip from Ohio to California, during which Charlie begins to see that Raymond possesses amazing skills with memory and numbers and that his long-lost brother is most certainly not just crazy. Charlie starts to value and love his brother–especially when he realizes that Raymond is actually “Rain Man,” the best friend he had thought he had only imagined in his early childhood. Charlie tells his girlfriend Susanna, “When I was a little kid and I got scared, the Rain Man would come and sing to me.” Charlie’s memories of his older brother are full of comfort and closeness. When Susanna asks what happened to this Rain Man friend, Charlie replies “Nothing, I just grew up.” In his mind, Charlie no longer needs Rain Man because he thinks he has it all together. He can talk his way out of anything. He can talk others into anything. He will shortly be set for life once he gets his sketchy car importing business running smoothly. But Charlie is wrong to think he is fine being so “self-sufficient.”
When Charlie is reunited with “Rain Man” and realizes he is real and he is Raymond, his autistic brother, Charlie begins to change for the better. He becomes a listener, instead of always the dominant speaker. He starts anticipating Raymond’s needs and wants, going along with the quirks of Raymond’s disorder and accepting his brother as he is. Charlie learns patience, that the fastest and easiest way to do something isn’t always the right or best way. And he learns to love again. He decides he wants a relationship with his brother because he truly cares about him. Furthermore, through loving Raymond, Charlie starts loving his father again, expressing understanding of how his dad must have felt when Charlie blew him off time and time again. At the close of the film (spoiler alert!), even though Raymond goes back to the mental institution in Ohio, Charlie remains changed. His thoughts at the end of Rain Man don’t revolve around the physical gratifications of wealth or romance. Instead, he focuses on making sure that Raymond understands his desire to continue their relationship, to maintain their renewed family bond, and to feel his brotherly love.
For Me Then…
Earlier this weekend/today, I was feeling a bit bummed that we didn’t have a more “holiday appropriate” film to talk about this week. But in thinking further about Rain Man and the end of the film when we see a changed Charlie standing on the train platform as Raymond rides off to Ohio, I’m thinking that we’re okay here with talking about this film on Easter. Charlie at the movie’s close seems a bit at a loss as to what to do with himself 1.) now that Raymond is leaving, and 2.) now that being with Raymond has changed him. We don’t see Charlie long enough without Raymond to see what he is like without him: Does he continue to deceive his auto customers? Does he still take advantage of and undervalue Susanna? But regardless of how the new Charlie applies the lessons he learned from his drive with Raymond, we can certainly be sure that those lessons will linger with Charlie. In just a few days, he has been “touched” by Raymond in a way that will affect him for his entire life.
Each time I hear the Easter story, this line of thinking pops up in my brain as well. In the Gospels we see countless people–named and unnamed–encountering Jesus during his early years, his ministry, and his death, and after his resurrection. Each of those people experiences the Savior in one way or another, those people usually end up a bit shell-shocked at what has just happened to them, and each person’s life is never the same afterward. Hence, what we see on a much smaller scale in Rain Man is writ large throughout the pages of the biblical text: One person’s life can change that of another. Sure, Raymond makes Charlie a better person from the jerk he is at the film’s beginning. But Jesus can transform your soul, not just your outlook on life or your perception of particular human disorders.
