Magnificent 7 (2005 TV Movie) User Reviews (8)

Autism and other psychological disorders handled with care...

[Antzy88 · 7/10 · 3 January 2006]

MAGNIFICENT 7 is not a remake of the classic 1960 western, but, rather, a film based on a real-life family of seven children and their single mother Maggi, played by Helena Bonham Carter. Being a sufferer of Asperger's Syndrome, I felt compelled to watch this one-off when it appeared on British television recently.

Like in the aforementioned real-life family (mother Jacqui Jackson, who, along with her children, helped make the 2003 documentary 'My Family And Autism' -- she and her son Luke Jackson have also written relevant books, and Jacqui herself oversaw this film), Maggi has three girls and four boys. The 'catch', for want of a better word, is that all four of the boys have some kind of disorder, especially the likes of Curtis (he is allergic to Christmas and is panicked by anything that is red in colour), Christopher (he has Asperger's Syndrome, is very naïve and trusting, responds awkwardly and sometimes inappropriately to social situations, and cannot understand idioms and sarcasm), and (if I remember correctly) Davey has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

The film itself follows the family over the course of a year in its 90-minute length, complete with some of the struggles as the boys cause (usually unintentional) problems and this understandably all strains Maggi a bit. Christopher, who is unsurprisingly being bullied at school, soon finds a friend in foreign caretaker Dmitri (Bruno Lastra), who somehow seems to click with the family and know a lot about Maggi herself...

While some bits would undeniably be exaggerated (something I always expect in dramatisations of subject matter of this ilk, especially when it's based on a true story), and there are some faults that somewhat watered it down a bit (including the school bullying of Christopher being a bit too tame -- I felt that it needed to be just a little more vicious to bring it closer to reality; and the other noticeable fault is that we are not satisfactorily told just how Dmitri seems to know so much about Maggi on first speaking to her), the fact that this was made and televised at all should, I hope, further enlighten the nation -- and maybe the rest of the world -- to the autistic spectrum disorders and give some indication of the problems -- and sometimes joy and surprise -- those that have such disorders can bring.

Other than that, most people should find this intriguing and informative viewing.

really good worth watching!

[helwakwak25 · 8/10 · 16 February 2007]

this was actually filmed at my school... HBM is really good! great portrayal by the kids! this touched me in so many ways and I'm sorry that i clicked spoiler but my computer wouldn't let me take it off so i had to leave it. enjoy this TV film its really good and the setting is great. they managed to put my school (bury grammar) in Manchester next to the Blackpool pleasure beach which was weird i must say and also my school is two separate buildings and they repeatedly walked in though a door and came out in a wrong corridor. Also the boys school reception was made into the police station. you can hardly tell. enjoy this fabulous TV film. (i can't believe how hard it is to write 10 lines about a film without a spoiler! so sorry for the babble!)

Lovely and rather unique

[RossLikesMovies · 13 December 2005]

Helena Bonham Carter is well cast as Maggi, a Mother of three children who are each in some way autistic.

We follow their life as Maggi struggles to cope with her children. One of them has attention deficit disorder, so is constantly loud and troublesome, but harmless really. Her eldest son Christopher has aspergers so is very trusting and cannot understand things like idioms or sarcasm. I forget the name of her other childs affliction, though it causes him to stay under the table wearing goggles and earmuffs for most of the programme. Some of the situations in this are quite funny. The script does its best to be thought provoking, at times walking the narrow line between being overly sentimental or just thought provoking. The mix here is about right though.

The inquisitive Christopher meets the school caretaker Dmitri, whom he sort of becomes friends with. Eventually Dmitri meets struggling Maggi and helps her to change the rules she has imposed on her children.

When this comes around on TV in the US or wherever, I suggest you watch it. Its funny, touching and just generally nice family viewing.

The Best Girls Ever!

[supertomrichardson · 10/10 · 14 November 2020]

My Favourite TV Movie is Magnificent 7. I love this because the actresses and actors are good! So get over Coronation Street, Magnificent 7 is Better.

A bit disappointed :(

[chichi_lopez · 5/10 · 29 December 2011]

I watched this film after having watched the excellent documentary it's based on "My Family and Autism". And I can't help but be left disappointed. I really wanted to like this film. But I don't think it captured the brilliance and energy of the real family at all, especially the core and heart of the family: their mother. I know it's really hard to remain true to your subject, there will always be some changes to make it movie-worthy exciting and more dramatic, but the character Maggi just doesn't measure up at all to the woman she's inspired by, Jacqui Jackson. After watching the documentary, I was just amazed and so impressed by Ms. Jackson's infectious sense of humour and how warm, down-to-earth, and loving her family was. She's an incredible, driven, independent, and intelligent woman. The film didn't really show this at all. The real Ms. Jackson has a first class honours degree in social science and a PhD in design and sensory issues in ASD. (This is jaw-dropping as she is the single mother of 7 kids! Where did she find the energy or the time??) She is totally dedicated to helping her children, constantly working with them to learn new skills. She's a trustee and member of the Scientific and Advisory Committee for Reseach Autism and is a published author. And she does this and has been doing this ON HER OWN. The movie portrayed the Maggi character as being a bit too overwhelmed and unsure how to handle challenges, reluctant to try new things with her kids. I'm still baffled as to why they wrote her character as only having her GCSEs... why would they do that, if not to make her appear less accomplished and capable than she actually is? Even going so far as to have a male character come in and save the day to show her how to help her kids and make her life better. Really? While I admit the character was warm, dedicated, and caring, to be sure, she was nowhere near the self-assured, spirited woman I saw in the documentary. A bit sad, really, because the other parts of the movie were really sweet. The acting was fabulous. They just really dropped it when it came to portraying the mother.

Magnificent 7

[jboothmillard · 5/10 · 31 December 2005]

This is the only TV drama I have actually seen with Helena Bonham Carter away from the big screen, especially with her husband Tim Burton. This is the true story based on the life of Jacqui Jackson and her seven children. Carter plays Maggi Jackson, the troubled mother happy to do nearly anything for her kids, especially because of their problems. The four boys of the family are the main reason why she is quite troubled, they all have social problems, e.g. Asperger's Syndrome, Hyperactivity. You can obviously sympathise with this mother because it is based on a real person. I can also kind of sympathise with the kid with Asperger's Syndrome, not just because I have it, but I know what it's like to be different and sometimes alone. Worth watching!

One woman's struggle with Autistic boys and non-Autistic girls.

[tignatard · 14 December 2005]

As a victim of Asperger's Syndrome myself - and having watched 'My Life And Autism' - I just HAD to watch 'Magnificent 7'. It is a wonderful, uplifting film revealing the hardship, strength, loneliness and love of one woman's struggle with the discrimination of the world - and to top it all off, she doesn't have Autism. She was amazing in the original documentary and is wonderful via Helena Bonham-Carter. If you want one scene to summarise the whole lot, wait for the flower display microphone speech. It tells the world we are not dangerous. We are not evil, or malicious. We are not prone to rape or murder. We are not existent for others to judge and label us.

hell breaks loose

[mmunier · 30 September 2014]

One click on my remote control to make my sand wish lunch at my breakfast bar more complete threw me on a middle of this social mayhem. I'm not too fond of anything way out, ugly or intolerable. When I look back at my days in the service of Mental Health, I did feel compassion but always with a dash of hope it was to repair, rather than maintain... So If you know the story of these "Magnificent Seven" (by the way, very hard to pull out for IMDb, as it is a TV play; and one will invariably get "The Magnificent Seven" Classic and its rerun! But it's there) And if you don't know, this is the portrayal of the true story of J Jackson mother of 3 normal girls and 4 boys affected in their on ways from symptoms that come under the umbrella of Autism. I missed the beginning and was about to miss the rest of it as well but the sandwich lasted long enough for the story to grab me despite my earlier comments and I enjoyed very much the rest of the story leaving all personal judgment aside...(yes if I'd be God, I think I'd done things differently) But the character of J Jackson shows that reality is as it is and one has the choice to make the best of it, and even enjoy its eventual deviation from the norms... Reading one of the reviews that appears to be from someone who was rather well versed with the real mother's persona. There was a lot of criticisms on how this TV work portrait the mother and other facets of this story. But for what I saw and no other knowledge and material to compare with I felt this dramatisation worked for me. My nursing days had their moments too, although remote from the jokes made about "asylums" they sometimes would surpass them. I did not realise that Helena Botham Carter was that actress and was surprised she was that young person I did admire very much in "room with a view" a long time ago, then was even more surprised reading a little more about her bio and filmography...What a pedigree and achievement!