Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Ringer

This weekend we watched the movie 'The Ringer.' Yes it does seem that the movie is in pretty poor taste. In fact, we watched it along with a string of other senseless, silly comedies to get a dose of stupid humor. But, I need to say, it was better than I expected.

The premise is, this really nice guy ends up needing a lot of money and his slimy uncle convinces him to enter the Special Olympics as a ringer for them to bet on. Right there you're thinking, that's the most horrible thing I've ever heard of. The movie apparently got a lot of help from the Special Olympics, though. They participated along the way and gave their support. The story ended up giving me a small glimpse of the training that these athletes go through and it made me appreciate their efforts all the more.

I think what was the coolest part was tucked away in a special feature. The a man from the Special Olympics said he was talking it over with some of the athletes, what they thought about this movie being made and Johnny Knocksville being cast as the lead. They thought that was fantastic. They said that the kinds of kids that go to see his movies are the kinds of kids that pick on them the most. If they see him treating them with respect, then maybe he'll change those bully's minds too.

I live a very fortunate life. I haven't seen much of the worst of people. I don't experience racism or sexism first hand. I wasn't around a lot of bullies either growing up. I haven't seen how mean kids or just people in general could be. So I didn't realize how helpful this movie really could be. And it certainly inspired me to want to participate as a mentor in the Special Olympics program. A friend of mind does and she loves it! It was certainly an inspiring movie after all!

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