Wonder – Gregorio Pesente
On February 5th, I and my class had a different school day. We went to school, as usual, but at 8.30 we left school and we reached on foot the Cinema Aurora to see the film “Wonder”. The cinema was not very far from school so our journey took about 15 minutes. We waited some minutes outside the cinema and then we went in and we sat down. While we were waiting to see the film Mrs Galletta gave us an introduction to the film. Then the film started. I was very curious because I had read the book of “Wonder” so I knew the story but I wanted to know how many words and phrases I could completely understand and in case of not known words if I could understand, at least, the general meaning of the phrase.
The film is about Auggie, a 10 years old child. He was born with a congenital facial deformity and for this reason many poeple can’t have a normal relationship with him because they find him repulsive. The film starts with Auggie wearing his helmet bacause of this deformity. The film tells about Auggie’s first school year. Before he was home-schooled by his mother at home. The first part is told from Auggie’s point of view. He tells us how he feels during his first school day and the days after. The first day is not very good, noboby wants to sit near him, only Summer, a school girl sits at his table at lunch. At the end of the day he has a nickname “Barf Hideous” and Julian, a school boy, and his friends start to tease and bully him. Anyway, Auggie goes on with courage and he finds two real friends in Mr Brown and Jack. Mr Brown is one of Auggie’s teacher and he teaches using precepts. The most important precept is “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind”. With this motto, the teacher wants to tell how important is to be kind with all the other people. Jack is one of the boy in Auggie’s class and they become friends, even if during Halloween day, Jack, to be accepted by Julian and his friends, says he sits down near Auggie because he is obliged to. Accidentally, Auggie hears these words and he becomes very sad. For sometime he doesn’t want to have contacts with Jack, but then they return to be friends, more than before. While some boys and girls realize how kind and funny Auggie is, Julian continues to bully him but he is discovered and eventually suspended. When all the class goes to a camp on a school trip, Auggie is attacked by some older boys but with the help of Jack, he can escape. The second part of the film is told from Via’s point of view, Auggie’s sister. Via is very proud of her brother but since he is born she is Auggie’s protector and sometimes it’s hard for her to accept that her brother is the centre of her family. She isn’t always very happy that everyone, for example her new school friends, knows her brother’s facial problem. We are also given Miranda’s point of view. Miranda was Via’s best friend, but now they are no longer friends because Miranda joints with the “cool” girls. Indeed Miranda is sad because her parents have separated and she is jealous of Via’s family. At the end also Via and Miranda will become friends again. The film ends with the school graduation. Now Auggie has a lot of friends and he is happier than at the beginnig of the school year. During the school graduation Auggie receives a prize for his exemplary behavoiur. All his family and friends are very proud of him.
When the film ended, the teachers were at our disposal for our questions about the film, then we came back to school.
Regarding my English comprehension I can say that I understood a lot of words and phrases but I think that to improve it could be better to see and listen to other films in the original version.
I like this film and the book too because it explains very well the feelings of the variuos characters. We can understand what are the thoughts of a person, victim of bullying, and how difficult the life is for this person. But the film explains also other points of view for example Jack’s point of view. For him, at the beginning, it is not easy to choose how to behave. He wants to be Auggie’s friend, because he can see over facial deformity and he can see how funny and kind Auggie is but he doesn’t want to be cut off from his old friends. I like Mr Brown’s attitude and his way of teaching: with simple precepts he teaches big rules of life. Another character that I like is Via. I like her honesty. She loves, protects and understands her brother but she is honest when she admits that it is very difficult to live everyday in this way and that she sometimes would like to be the centre of the family. Now that I remember, I have the book of Mr Brown’s precepts, every page contains the precept of the day, maybe I can open it and read the precept of today. It could be useful.
