Digging to China

Betsi Cardenas Mendoza

Introduction to Special Education 203

Movie Critique

Wednesday. September 08, 2021

 Digging to China portrays the most honest, pure, and true friendship between Harriet (

Evan Rachel Wood ), a 10 years old girl who lives with her mother ( Cathy Moriarty ), and

older sister Gwen ( Mary Stuart Masterson ). And Ricky ( Kevin Bacon ), a mentally disabled

man. Our story begins when Ricky and his mother stay for some days at Harriet's family

hotel, where Harriet meets Ricky and finds in him someone who shares her anger for

adventure and interest to explore beyond the known. Hand in hand with Harriet, Ricky

discovers a new world where his mental condition was not an impediment to enjoy life,

explore and experience the sense of freedom he had never had living in a Special Institution

where his mother secludes him to prevent him from being unprotected after her death.

Ricky suffers from mental retardation; Which prevents him from mentally maturing

according to his age, controlling his linguistic and motor skills. He stutters when speaking,

constantly moves his head side to side, and keeps his hands contracted. Ricky's mental

disability keeps him in a controlled and routinary environment where he has little freedom of

decision given the overprotection of his mother; Also, he was labeled as "the retarded man"

by Harriet's older sister and judged as someone who will teach her little sister to do wrong.

Harriet's sister does not understand that even when Ricky was a grown man, his thinking

capacity is similar to a 10 years old child.

Physically Ricky was portrayed as a 26-30 years old white man. Emotionally he was

illustrated as someone obedient, kind, calm, friendly, and easy to influence. There was a

moment in the movie where Ricky was aggressive. Given, he was physically attacked by

Harriet's older sister because she saw Ricky laying down on the floor hugging her little sister
(she thought he could have hurt Harriet and started punching him on the back ). Ricky then

entered in a state of despair and anguish. Besides, when he found out that his mother would

send him back to the Institution where he was living, Ricky lost control of his emotions and

attacked Gwen.

If we as a society educate our children from a young age to accept, support, and include

people with disabilities, prejudice towards people with special conditions would decrease or

even will not exist. Besides, it is prime to advise special kids' parents to raise their children

with some freedom of Independence, to teach their children not to feel less about themselves

or think they can not perform activities as good as everyone else. In this movie, we can see

how the over-protection from his mother makes Ricky an insecure person who depends on

others to make simple decisions such as where to go or what to do. As a society, we should

create an environment where special people feel accepted and belong. Where they know they

have the needed knowledge and skills to succeed in life and have the same opportunities as

everyone else; To achieve these goals, the government may invest more in free access to

treating institutions where special needs people can receive training to perform on different

jobs. Besides, schools should include as part of their curriculum courses where they teach

students about diversity, inclusion, and respect to special needs students as fundamental parts

of their education.

At some point in the movie, we can see Ricky's frustration about his condition. Because

he realizes his freedom and the opportunity to explore the world beside her best friend Harriet

is gone. When Ricky finds he has to go back to the Institute where he was secluded. He starts

crying and repeating again and again " I do not want to go back; While Harriet hugs him and,

say " Ricky I will not forget you" ( Digging to China), then he looks at her eyes and say, "you

will, you are going to grow up and forget me, I will not, I going to stay the same forever" (
Digging to China ). Furthermore, Harriet's older sister Gwen seems pretty upset about Harriet

and Ricky's friendship. She does not want Harriet to spend time with Ricky because she

thinks she may start acting like him. And because of the age difference between the two.

Digging to China is an educational and engaging movie that illustrates some of the

challenges people with special needs face. Because of the lack of knowledge and education,

we do not have special needed people suffer from discrimination, exclusión, and violation of

their right to be respected. Besides, we can reflect on the consequences of raising an

overprotected child who depends on others all the time; For example, Ricky used to live

surrounded by nurses and doctors who decided what he does, where he goes, etc. Therefore,

he is easily influenced by a 10 years old to walk away from her mother without thinking

about the consequences that decision will carry for him. Furthermore, I liked the fact, Harriet

does not have prejudices, and as best as she can she supports Ricky when she is around.

Another topic that was included in the movie was the importance of parents being present in

their children's lives. At the beginning of the film, Harriet tells us about her feelings to go

away from her family, how her mother does not understand her; she lives submerged in a

fantasy world given her mother and sisters are busy most of the time running the hotel where

they live to pay attention to the request, wishes or problems of Harriet. Therefore, the little

girl feels like she does not belong to her family, and trying to escape from them, she has done

things that put her at risk. For example, when trying to dig to China, she cut high voltage

subsoil wires, she got on a chair filled with helium balloons to fly away from home, etc.

Lastly, the message this plot gave us is to look at people with special needs as children do,

without prejudice, believe they can improve and get things done by themselves but do not be

an absent parent, teacher, or citizen who does not care about special angels God sent to this

world.
 References

Digging to China. Directed by Timothy Hutton, performances by Kevin Bacon, Mary

Stuart Masterson, Cathy Moriarty, Evan Rachel Wood, 1997.