Gary N. Gray

This was the first movie that I saw about a person with a disability. This movie started me thinking: if this guy can do it, I know I can do it too. It was the very first movie about a very independent disabled male in a major city. Butterflies are Free broke the mold for disabled role model movies. Yes, the actor happens to be non-disabled, but for that time period and subject, it was way ahead of its time.

This movie was about a young blind man who wanted to move out of his parents' house and become fully independent. It was a late 60s movie about a young blind male trying to make it in New York, while dealing with a very protective mother who just wanted to help her son anyway she knew how.

Yet, it was a movie about what most parents go through with any kids, as they try to protect them. Any parent would wish to protect their child, but for a disabled child, parents are like mother hens over their flock. They don't want the children to get hurt emotionally or physically so they try to shield disabled children from the hardships society will give. And parents of minority disabled kids try to shield them from America's racism as well--which we know is impossible.

This fine artful, colorful and insightful movie follows this young disabled male from his house in upstate New York to New York City. The opening scene is of this disabled gentleman opening up boxes and boxes of stuff, arranging and rearranging his music equipment in his new apartment. Chairs and tables are all over the place and he runs into them constantly. He stumbles and bumbles over stuff but after a few days he makes it and his apartment looks nice, even better than the apartment I had in Berkeley.

In the movie, the young man is a writer and plays music; he wants to make the big time in the big city, so he has to move to New York in order to get a job in the music industry. It is something his mother is totally against. The battle between parent and child goes on and the audience waits to see who will win this battle.

The events that made this movie really interesting and special were the disabled character's willingness to try new things, go to new places, and meet new people. Those traits allowed him the great experience of becoming truly independent.

It was fun to watch his protective mother call him every night from her home, asking ten thousand questions about what he did that day: What he had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; asking him about his little garden on his porch.

The phone conversation would often end with mother saying, "I wish you would come home with me so I could take care of you better and you would be safe here" (just like any mother would say and feel). "Son, I don't want you living in that crazy city." He would reply, "Mom, I got to try to make it here; the music business is here, so, mom, I have to stay here." The disabled struggle with this issue all the time--the safety of home versus the opportunity for independence.

So his mom would make the trek down to New York City every weekend to visit him. She would bring cake, cookies, and food to fill his refrigerator to make sure he would be well-fed during the week, not trusting him to feed himself with good and balanced foods. She would clean the apartment, complaining the whole time about how dirty it was--believe me, that apartment was not dirty at all. I have lived with a few gentlemen and this guy was a saint when it comes to cleaning his own place. I wondered if he really lived there.

The movie points out that disabled folks are in constant battle with society about being independent. Society assumes disabled people are not happy with the constant struggles of simple life in this world. I know that I enjoy some of the challenges society throws at me. It would be very boring if one did not have these challenges in life.

The young disabled male liked being alone; he enjoyed his own company. He was not lonely because he had so much to do and so many people to visit in his life. Again, society thinks that disabled folks are lonely people, and they need people around them at all times. This is not so. I, for one, can be alone for weeks without seeing anyone and feel fine about it. Working, writing and playing music can take a lot of time. It is OK to be alone; it's not OK to be lonely for long periods of time. There is a vast difference.

A lot of other disabled folk have not fully come to terms with this issue so in turn parents of disabled children are very uneasy about it. Parents don't know what to say or what to do for their disabled children or young adults. Communication can be the key to unlocking this very sticky door. We should talk more about this issue and this movie deals with the subject very well.[]

--To be continued--

That's it from the GrayLine