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The film “The Soloist” was screened for attendees of Moorpark College’s 20th annual Multicultural Day at 10:15 a.m. on April 13.
In 2005 Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez met homeless man Nathaniel Ayers; little did Lopez know that Ayers was once a top cello prodigy attending Juliard until he developed severe schizophrenia that forced him to the streets.
Interested by Ayers’ history, Lopez began writing a series of columns documenting his interactions and eventual friendship with Ayers.
The film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Lopez and Jamie Foxx as Ayers.
English Professor Diane Scrofano organized the screening and said it tied in with the campus’ “One Book One Campus” program.
“‘The Soloist’ is this semesters’ selection for ‘One Book One Campus’ program and screening the movie just continues it,” she said. “We had Steve Lopez visit last October and are planning an evening with the campus orchestra playing some of Nathaniel Ayers’ favorite compositions.”
There were about 25 people in attendance and most hadn’t read the book prior to the screening. The majority of the crowd seemed to be interested in the movie and the deeper subject of schizophrenia.
Amanda Anderson, a 20-year-old pyschology major, had the time to make only one of the events for the day and she chose to go to the screening.
“I knew that [Ayers] has schizophrenia and since I’m a pysch major it made sense to do something that tied in to that,” she said.
Although a few scenes had to be skipped to account for time, most of the attendees stayed for the entire film, which shows that even in todays’ special effects spectacles, there’s a place for the simple story of a man learning about others and about himself.
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