The Soloist Analysis

The Soloist, directed by Joe Wright, tells the anecdote of an unlikely bond formed between two men of divergent backgrounds. One of the main characters, Steve Lopez, was a divorced middle aged man working as a journalist, for his ex-wife Mary, at the L.A Times. Lopez experienced a biking accident which made him reflect upon his life while hospitalized. He began to search for his true passion as he lost interest in journalism. One day, Lopez encounters Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless man who taught himself how to play a two string violin. Lopez later discovered that Ayers had dropped out of Juilliard during his sophomore year. He was shocked how someone, with such an incredible talent, lived the way Ayers lived. After the meeting with Ayers, Lopez …show more content…
The interaction between the person and the context is known as a performance. The performance range provides a scope of actions available to a person who is trying to engage in a task (Dunn et al., 1994). The performance range incorporates the tasks, skills, and the person’s abilities. However, performance range can be limited due to developmental delays, physical limitations, cognitive limitations, social skills and mental illnesses. Ayers performance range was restricted due to all of these aspects besides physical limitations. However, the Ecology of Human Performance is composed of five alternatives for therapeutic intervention to help overcome performance restraints (Dunn et al., 1994). The five strategies include establish or restore, alter, adapt, prevent and create. Lopez was able to notice the boundaries that Ayers had to face, and helped alter Ayers performance needs. Lopez supported Ayers with adapting to his new apartment, so he was able to schedule professional music lessons. He was also able to alter his musical ability by providing him with a cello that wasn’t missing strings like Ayers old violin. Although one’s performance range can be slight, with the help of the Ecology Human Performance therapeutic intervention, tasks are still …show more content…
In one part of the movie, Ayers had the task of performing in a recital after Lopez published several articles about his musical talents. He needed to have a set of actions and a particular behavior in order to accomplish this goal. Due to this mental disorder, personal aspects and context, he was unable to perform. His behavior was suppose determined by the demand of the task however since all aspects of the EHP correspond, the task was not able to be completed. Every individual has the possibility to complete tasks, but it can become challenging due to certain aspects within one’s