Mission to Lars

I had a vague notion of the film's premise before watching "Mission To Lars" - an autistic man's dream to meet Lars Ulrich, drummer and founding member of Metallica.

The film has more in common with a Channel 4 reality TV series like "The Undateables" than anything that could be called "a documentary movie" - it's really a hour long glimpse into the world of the autistic condition known as "Fragile X Syndrome".

I guess you could liken it to a fly on the wall behind the scenes look at something like the Make-A-Wish foundation. Probably a great movie if you have an interest adult mental health, not so great if you are not interested in that.

I would have been quite intrigued to know more about Tom's fanatical love for Metallica, how it started, how it developed and how he managed to amass his excellent collection of memorabilia? At time the movie felt to me like a cynical springboard for the careers of Tom's brother & sister.

Ultimately the only part of the film i enjoyed is when Tom finally got to meet Lars - their interaction was heart warming. The rest of the film, is a boring if insightful look into the world of Fragile X Syndrome...

I think these two egos overshadow Tom and his experience. They "admit" at the beginning of this film that neither has deserved "best sibling" award. Now they decide a grand gesture made public - with even their production company name their own two names, writ large. I come from a background of much involvement with children and adults with intellectual disabilities, if that should give me any weight. I am so irritated with these two. From the first minute of this film, to the last. What a couple of punk siblings. Making up for years of ignoring their severely disabled sibling by making a film of themselves "giving him an experience he wouldn't normally get." How about taking him for a visit to the pub? Once a month. Much less stressful for the brother. Of course, its a dream to meet his hero. Of course, but guess what? This isn't an experience anyone "normally" gets. All I saw here were a couple of guilty egos. There's enough money for a trip to America with a film crew, yet these two have admittedly neglected to attend to their disabled sibling for, I presume, years. Thank goodness an effort was made to make dear Tom's big dream come true. But this film is a sappy, self - congratulatory vehicle for these two "artistes", not a touching look inside the deprived existence of someone with a very serious disability. You know, thousands of people all over the world help make dreams come true every day and night in schools, group homes, and other institutions, as well as in their communities. Who else gets a medal? Who else needs one? The scene where the two are berating their brother for his change of mind after their arrival in the US...I would never talk to a student with that tone, and wouldn't expect any of my teachers to attempt to cajole or manipulate someone with an anxiety response. I'm sick, and obviously upset.

MISSION TO LARS

Mission to Lars is a documentary about an English guy named Tom Spicer. Tom's dream is to meet Lars Ulrich, the drummer from his favourite heavy metal band Metallica. So his brother and sister, Kate and William, decide to take him to America to see Metallica live and meet Lars in person. Now I am sure meeting one of the biggest bands in the world is not an easy task, but it is even harder if the person you are taking has Fragile X Syndrome. Fragile X Syndrome is a complicated syndrome… and if you don't know what it is then read up about it. Bottom line, Tom will not do anything unless he wants to and he has no problem with making everything really hard work unless he does everything his own way. This makes it very hard for Kate and William to get him to his dream.

The film is very touching in places… I felt sorry for Tom, but also he brought some great comedy to the film. His straight to the point answers and his refusal to do a lot of things made life difficult for Kate and William, but made for entertainment for the watcher.

You don't really see much of William as he is holding the camera, but you can hear him talk. Kate is in front of the camera a lot looking after Tom and trying to get everything sorted… but she does not come across as very likable. It is a nice thing she is doing for her brother, but it felt like she is only doing it because she feels guilty for drifting apart from Tom over the years. Is she doing it to make her brother happy or just to help her feel less guilty? She comes across as a bit horrible to William in places too. Is she really that mean or was it just edited to make her look like that. Maybe it was just because she was tired. We don't really know. I know they were on the road for a very long time and the movie is only on for 90 minutes, so there is a lot of footage that never made it to the screen. Maybe William left out some bits that he should have showed so we could understand some of the comments she made. She says that she is doing this to make Tom meet his hero and for Tom to have a great time away… but it seems her stress is making it all harder work. She does realize this in the film though.

This documentary did a lot of good things really. I didn't really know about FXS before watching this. It has opened my eyes to it. It also shows that the love of a family can really make things happen.

A good documentary that is honest and full of emotions. It will make you laugh, but also make you wonder if the meet and greet will ever happen.

I will give this film 7 out of 10.

Kate: "Are you looking forward to meeting Lars" Tom: "No."

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Fantastic!!!!! Loved it. What a film, thank you for showing it.

Shame it's not on general release as others would do well to see this excellent film into special needs.

Just left me wanting to know more that happened after the trip!! Well done also to the brother and sister who made this happen.

Made me cry as my son has autism, hope his brother looks after him so well when they are older. Would love to do the same thing when he,s older, but his obsession is red phone boxes, so that is easier to arrange!!

Excellent film. More please ......

Can't wait for the DVD

I think they could have done this better. Much of the documentary seems to rely on our empathy for the main person of the film, which is Tom who has a sort of mental handicap called fragile X, but even for those who aren't fed up with this kind of cheap pandering, they don't even dig deep into his condition. The film can't seem to decide which angle to go for... The fact that they're trying to meet Lars Ulrich of Metallica or how it is for this guy to live with his condition. I don't regret watching it or anything, it's okay for entertainment but could have been much better. Clocks at approx 75 mins.