The Peanut Butter Falcon

The depiction of disability in film has been a hot-button issue for several years now. For some people, mentally and physically challenged characters simply should only be played by an actor with the same challenges that they have. Whether you agree with this or not, that kind of casting brings a sense of authenticity to the story, and it’s an oversight that Hollywood has made more times than they’d liked to admit.

Luckily, characters with Down’s syndrome, because of its more visible traits, have almost always been played by actors with the same disability. While most of the time, this type of character have just been to a side player, here swoops in The Peanut Butter Falcon to put the subject front and center in a sincere, compassionate story that should move anyone who watches it.

The movie tells the story of Zak, a person with Down's syndrome who escapes the retirement home in North Carolina he was forced to live so he can go to the wrestling school run by his hero, the Saltwater Redneck. Along the way, he comes across Tyler, a troubled fisherman who agrees to take him en route to Florida and train him. During the journey, Tyler's rough outside is peeled away as he grows through his experiences with Zak, along with Zak's caretaker from the home, Eleanor, who reluctantly tags along. 

The script is just wonderful. I genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen to the characters and I always accepted everything that played out due to how real the environment felt. Usually, a film about characters growing to accept a disabled person would take place in a school or some urban setting, but the movie’s rural North Carolina location feels equally accepting of the main character’s disability and bigoted towards it, with people that stem from every side.

The performances are excellent all across the board. Given Shia Labeouf’s history of arrests and controversial behavior, it truly feels like he’s being changed as a person through his experience with Zak, both narratively and in real life. It makes you wonder how rehearsed a scene where he’s moved to tears by his friend’s words is. I’m guessing not very much at all. Dakota Johnson is also believable as Zack’s well-meaning caretaker who has something to gain from her interactions with him and Tyler herself.

Other actors like Bruce Dern as Zak’s best friend at the retirement home, Thomas Haden Church as his wrestler hero, the Salt Water Redneck, and John Hawkes as the fisherman who wants Shia Labeouf’s character dead, are credible in their own ways.

But what truly makes the whole movie work is its star. Zak Gottsagen’s lovability shines throughout the entire film, with his every action and word being completely believable and not feeling at all scripted. It goes to show that the only way to understand Down syndrome people is simply listening to them. Him just being himself was even what attracted the filmmakers to tell this story and, from what I can tell, they allowed him to do his thing in every scene he was in, adding even more to the film’s authenticity.

Not only that but every character that either treats him with respect or prejudice is just as credible. Every relationship someone has with him, like Eleanor who cares for him but has plans that would just ruin his life, feels genuine. While a certain “r-word” is thrown at him a few times, it never goes over the top to make you feel sorry for him, preventing Zack for being the “woe is me” type a lesser movie would make him. He even believes what they say about him being a bad person for being neglected by his parents and being mentally challenged before Tyler tells him otherwise.

The Peanut Butter Falcon is one of the most sincere and heartfelt movies I’ve seen all year; a film where you buy the journey the characters are going through and more than happy to tag along. See it whether you tend to go to smaller, independent movies, or not.