The Eighth Day is a 1996 French movie directed by Jaco Van Dormael, who is better known by his newer recent Mr. Nobody starring Jared Leto, and The Brand New Testament. What does a clerk with an artificial shining smile and a patient of a boarding school for people with special needs have in common? After they accidentally bump into each other, their lives will no longer be the same. Harry, a burnt out businessman, learns simple joys of life: being in the nature, feeling and acting spontaneously, taking care of his children who live with his ex-wife. He becomes a best friend and travel companion for Georges, a young man with Down's syndrome. The Eights Day is one of the gentlest and kindest movies I've ever seen.
Pascal Duquenne, who played the part of Georges, has built a successful actor career. The film was warmly received by the audience. A few years later after the movie premiered, an association called The Eighth Day was created in Belgium, aimed at integration of people with special needs into society and first of all opening houses to grant them autonomous accommodation. A true example of when art changes reality.
