Opening night in Syracuse I saw The Peanut Butter Falcon with my parents. It starred Dakota Johnson, Shia Labeauf and Zack Gottsagen. In the movie Zack happens to have Down syndrome and has dreams of becoming a wrestler. He didn’t let anything stop him or slow him down personally. He persevered. I loved it because I strongly believe in perseverance.
The movie was about Zack trying to find the school of his dreams to become a wrestler. He broke out of a nursing home with all old people (somewhere he should never have been). One of his old friends helped him. He was hiding under a cover of a boat that took off and that is where he encountered Tyler. Tyler stood up for him when he was being harassed. They became friends along the way. Tyler showed Zack how to boost his self-confidence and self-esteem.
Eventually Tyler, Eleanor and Zac reached the destination where the school was located, to find out that the school had closed down, but Zac wanted nothing more than to become a wrestler. The wrestler that owned the school decided to take him on as a protégé. This is where Zac found his inner strength to beat him. He had to make up a wrestling name so he called himself The Falcon, The Peanut Butter Falcon!
I thought the movie was very well done in the way Zac was portrayed to have someone with Down syndrome having a dream and not having someone squash it. He definitely had hurdles and challenges to overcome and he was able to accomplish them with some help from some of the friends he had made along the way.
Personally, I enjoyed the movie, when Zac was being bullied and called a retard I did cringe a bit hearing the word because it offends me. However, I do think they handled it well. I was very much relieved that Zac had his wish come true and was able to wrestle. All in all I think it was a really good movie and happy to see it is still in theaters because movies come and go so frequently!