Auggie has been homeschooled all his life due to his physical complications that required him to have over a dozen surgeries. His mother, played by Julia Roberts, felt it was time for him to enter into a real school and decided that middle school was the perfect opportunity, since a lot of students would be new. The surgeries helped Auggie looked a bit more normal, but he still stood out, when all he wanted to do was blend in.
The movie “Wonder” takes the audience through the journey of a boy who looks a little more different than his peers. He makes a couple friends along the way, and, of course, meets more bullies. His peers meet him with cruel reactions and shun with fear thinking that his medical condition is contagious.
The cruelty in which Auggie faced broke the hearts of everyone in the audience. To see a boy who wanted nothing more than to fit in with his peers and being tormented for something he had no control over hurt the kids, parents, and elders that watched from their seats in the theater.
It’s obvious the central character of Auggie has to deal with the cruel way people react to those who look different. But it becomes clear that the pain of feeling like you don’t belong, the need for some form of validation, and the struggle to deal with the hardships even when they aren’t apparent, is something more than the one little boy with medical problems has to face.
When one of Auggie’s peers bullied him relentlessly, it was finally brought to the principal’s attention. Both parents of the bully joined him as well. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a class photo in which Auggie was Photo-shopped out of. The principal, disappointed to think that a student would Photoshop another student out of a photo, only to discover it was the bully’s mother who had Photo-shopped Auggie out of the photo.
This was a very important part in the movie to me. It goes to show that there is no age limit to bullying. The principal said something then that opened the eyes of the audience to how we should treat others. He said, “We can’t change the way others look, but maybe we can change the way we see.”
The movie was told from multiple perspectives: Auggie, his sister Via, his friend Jack and even Via’s friend Miranda. This was not just Auggie’s story to tell. Everyone faces hardships and fights battles not all of us see. This is just another way the author and director show the importance of being kind. Palacio wrote, “Be kinder than necessary, because it is not enough to be kind. One should be kinder than needed.” Being kind requires no skill set, no talent and no effort.
The movie was cohesive with the book and brought the words on the page to life. The movie capsulated the way the book made me feel, and it made me cry… more than once. I felt the way Auggie’s mother felt when her child was crying because no one would touch him. I felt the way Via felt when she said Auggie was the sun, and everyone revolved around him. I absolutely felt the way the family felt when they lost their beloved dog Daisy. Tears streamed down the faces of audience members of every age. The movie struck a chord with everyone.
I do, however have one problem with this movie. During the lunch scenes, the kids were buying salads. I’m sorry, but no fifth grader that I know is eating salad at lunch. I appreciate the attempt to show a well-balanced meal, but let’s be a little more realistic about what middle schoolers are really eating: chicken nuggets and French fries.
“Wonder” is the kind of movie that should be shown to the young and old as a life lesson. It has a wonderful message of tolerance, acceptance, understanding and respect. There’s no guarantee that the message I took away from this movie was the same as everyone else, but this movie goes deeper than face value–it touches the mind and hearts of anyone who watches it.