This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Brilliant and touching

A Brilliant Conflict

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is a dramatization of real life events in the case of Micheal Patrick Smith, a young adult who suffered the effects of Duchenne Muscular Distrophy and lived in several nursing homes through the coarse of his too-short life. The actual nursing home, on which this film is based, was called Heritage House, where Mike Smith resided in the early 1970's. The film chronicles the terrible conditions that Mike suffered, showing him at two facilities, the later one called Heritage House. (Named Hesperia House in the movie.) It also shows how Mike and a compassionate Recreational Director named Wade Blank, (In the movie called "Wade Black.") sought to bring about better living conditions for the disabled, as well as showing the patients how to advocate their rights to make their lives as comfortable and independent as possible. I found some real-life information below about the actual case doing on on-line Google Search about Wade Blank.Wade Blank worked at the home from December of 1971 until 1975. When he went to the center for the first time, it was just before Christmas of 1971 and the place was in his words " A morgue." Wade remembered what they ate the first night. Scrambled Eggs, Baked Potato, and Applesauce. The food was cold. Other reports were that cockroaches were found in cereal bowls, Colostomy Bags were not changed regularly, flies buzzed constantly near a patient in a full body cast, patients were shoved into cold showers.Wade worked for four years to help improve conditions at the home. I learned that he took the kids to a rock concert, just live in the movie. Wade sought to let the young residents have music, such as radios, stereos, and TV's in the rooms. They were allowed to have pets, they could evaluate the nurses. However, when Wade tried to help the kids move out of the home to become more independent, he was fired. All of the reforms that he put in place, such as animal control coming to take the pets away, no music in the rooms, was literally changed overnight. I also understand the abuses at Heritage House and the resulting lawsuit got the whole staff fired! This shows the amazing impact that Wade and Mike made to help the disabled lead better lives!When You Remember Me is a composite of the above events, with some names changed and some of the above omitted from the movie for legal reasons and time constraints. In the movie, Micheal Patrick Smith, is Micheal Mills. Fred Savage plays Mike Mills and gives an amazing portray of him! Kevin Spacey is wonderful as Wade, and Ellen Burstyn is chilling as the insensitive and "By The Book" rule authoritarian head nurse, Mary Cooder. The best impression of Louse Fletcher's, Nurse Ratshit from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" that you will ever see!You feel the pain and agony that these patients endured in this movie, and see the darkness of the facility. It's amazing to observe the energy and feeling that Fred Savage puts into Michael's character, as he tries so much to help change an apathetic and abusive system. Sadly, despite the movie saying at the end that conditions have improved at institutions at this kind, in some regards that may be true. However, in other facilities, it is not. When You Remember Me will make you think about the struggles both physically and emotionally that disabled people experience each day. Highly recommended viewing!

Watched the film for the first time 3 days ago. I was so glued to the TV as the performance/story line/emotion had me glued. Amazing acting around such a dramatic heart wrenching story. Many aspects that were covered such as disability, care quality within the health care system, and the strength/determination of the disabled child living in a world which included those who did not care.The phrase he wrote about remembering him made me cry a little because it was so beautiful. I hope the film has woken many people up with regard to the plight of the disabled. Well done to all who made this beautiful thought provoking film. I applaud you.

Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) proves that he has capabilities way beyond what anybody would have expected of him. Playing the role of the disabled teenager in the true story could not have been easy, but he does so very convincingly. This film really makes you think about the conditions in homes for the disabled, and wonder how far the truth goes...

Film about a rebel rouser in a run down hospital for disabled kids. Imagine "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" from a snotty kid's perspective and you have this mess of a film. Direction, script, acting and just about every other form of input in this film is stilted and weak. The fact that Spacey spent his time on this film is truly disheartening--good thing is that you realize that no matter how great an actor one maybe, direction and script are very important. Do not watch unless you want a reason to put your fist through the television.