this true to life film be a inside glimpse into a family that be and at it core and hold together by the mother . toni collette play the mother of an autistic son . her performance be real and a driving force in the film . her autistic son charlie be a trial for the entire family and for his mother and whose life be so static and day in day out and she have come to accept charlie for the person he be and she do this through simple love . at the center of the story be the other son and thomas ( rhys wakefield ) and his burden of keep his brother charlie a secret and his further burden of family life . when father simon be away from the home it be thomas who try to run the household . charlie be play by luke ford who give a wonderful performance ( remember him from the mummy represent tomb of the dragon emperor ) . their family struggle with bout of seem normalcy and shock bit of harsh truth and bitter reality . thomas develop a strained relationship with a girl that be nice to him . this girl and jackie ( gemma ward ) be strike and upon make it clear that she like thomas find that he doesn not know how to deal with this . both solid performance by gemma ward and a model and and rhys wakefield with his truthful and from the gut act . write and direct by elissa down and who have two autistic brother in real life and obviously bring her experience to bear and be innately able to bring pressure to this trouble torn family while bring out some very emotional love . the winner of this film be toni collete whose act through the turmoil be completely convincing . the act together with a strong script really make this a movie worth see .