
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994                   TAG: 9411010036
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`SILENT FALL' FALLS FAR INDEED

It is early in "Silent Fall," and Sheriff Mitch Rivers (J.T. Walsh) is trying to talk semi-retired psychiatrist Jake Rainer (Richard Dreyfuss) into taking a case. The parents of a nine-year-old autistic boy and 18-year-old girl have been brutally murdered in their bedroom. Only the boy really saw what happened, although his sister was there, and he can't - or won't - talk.

"I've seen `Rain Man'," Rivers says, with great feeling. "That little boy's got a picture of the killer all locked up in his head."

It's a ridiculous, jarring line, but to add insult to injury, the esteemed psychiatrist - a supposed expert in the field of autism - doesn't bat an eye. He's too busy thinking about himself.

The scene is symbolic of the main problem with this new film from Bruce Beresford: It aims to be a somewhat intelligent exploration of autism, but gets so caught up in its misguided purpose that it exploits the subject.

Tim, the boy (Ben Faulkner), has never spoken in his own voice. After the murder, he is catatonic. Rainer, the psychiatrist, no longer treats autistic children because of the suicide of a child under his care.

After some perfunctory scenes in which Dreyfuss sulks or stalks off, ignoring the pleas of his bitter wife Karen (Linda Hamilton, who ought to try a character who at least smiles once in a while), the sheriff and Tim's sister Sylvie, he takes the case.

He is making progress when Sylvie, played by Liv Tyler, starts throwing blocks in his way. Sylvie raises another sticky plot question: Why is everyone applying the thumbscrews to an autistic child when an apparently emotionally healthy 18-year-old ALSO saw what happened?

The filmmaker attempts to solve that problem by turning the film into a full-fledged murder mystery in its final 30 minutes. Tim becomes a mere tape recorder - he can perfectly mimic people's voices - that the good doctor uses to solve the crime and Beresford uses for mere entertainment value. Very much in the spirit of "Rain Man."

Hollywood is not known for its nobility, but "Silent Fall" is, in many ways, a new, all-time low.

One star, Silent Fall, rated R for profanity, 110 minutes, a Morgan Creek release, showing at Valley View Mall 6.

"Silent Fall" *

A Morgan Creek release, showing at Valley View Mall 6. Rated R for profanity, 110 minutes.

by CNB