Coming down the mountain.

I don't really know why I watched this show last night, I don't often watch one off shows.  I don't tend to like them especially on the BBC.  I always find them over dramatic and over done.  I tend to find them boring and tedious and can not wait until they end, in fact I usually end up switching them off.  I can't remember the last one I saw and enjoyed.

Saying that I watched 'Coming down the Mountain'.  I think what really drew me to it was the fact it was written by Mark Haddan who wrote The Curios Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.  It's about a teenager, David, who is happy iwht his life and his new girlfriend, until his parents decide to up sticks and move the family away from London for the sake of his brother, Ben, who has Down's Syndrome.  Feeling neglected, David's antipathy towards Ben grows until he makes a potentially fatal decision.

I was blown away with this drama.  It spoke to me on so many levels, about how parents of disabled children don't often see their child as being 'normal' and always padding them with cotton wool and forget that these children still have feelings and wants and need to grow up.  Granted some of them will always need to have help but some can live lives with relatively little input from others.  It spoke to me about how parents sometimes forget there are two children they have to think about.  The needs of one can sometimes over shadow the other child.  It spoke to me about David's frustration and how he had no way of letting it out until it all boiled over and he makes a decision on his life he can't take back.  They also showed David self-harming... Which I found hard but understood why it was put in.  I did wonder however how many people who understand what David did and why did David do it.  It also spoke to me how frustrated Ben was with being treated like a child, not being able to do anything, not have a girlfriend, always being babysat.   I screamed at the TV, I cried at the TV, I prayed that David wouldn't do what he set out to do.  What I really enjoyed is how they sorted out their problems, how life had moved forward and how the family life really changed for the better.  I still believe that there would have been a lot of problems in the family and there is a lot of things that they needed to sort through, but it was nice to see that things were on their way up.

I was also blown away by the acting talents of all around.  David was played by Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy and Skins fame) and he was amazing.  When he broke down after coming down the mountain I honestly believed that he had really broke down, when he was up the mountain I saw the anger and frustration completely over take him, I saw him stop acting and become the part.  I even love Ben, he was interesting to watch.  People often underestimate those with Down's Syndrome and I'm sure it's still from the days where if a child was born with Down's Syndrome they would go to a home and stay there.

I really hope they release this on DVD because I tell you what I will be buying it.  I was freaking brilliant! 

tags: tv  review