I usually don't enter comments on movies but, for this I had to to ask all viewers to place themselves in the life of someone who's darkest days will carve forever who they are into their soul in the most tragic way. Could you try to begin to understand without judgment? Could you bare witness to one's self destruction up close and personal and accept that all they will take from you is understanding and acceptance, no help for they will not choose to life? So many times we mistreat people like Stuart... we fail to understand to them to offer them our hand if only for a minute, just to treat a human like a human.... This was a fantastic movie. Stuart even in his drunken and for the most part hard to understand words made me hope that this movie would have a rainbow at the end, that he would recognize his importance to the world that had gone terribly wrong for him. He was a lovable character even in his dizziest state. He was intelligent and caring just not to himself. If you truly do what you must at times, which is struggle to understand what he says you will recognize his intelligence. He could focus to create change in something, he could decide to take a bull by the horns and fight for something as he does when the two individuals who help the homeless that are wrongfully imprisoned. Saving himself however was not something Stuart would have considered. The end leaves you questioning what really happened. Give this movie a shot. Dare to compare yourself to Alexander. Pose a tough question to yourself, how do you really treat others? I mean everyone... not just the homeless drunk but, the girl who made your burger at the drive-thru take away ... the fella who cleaned the bathroom at your office. We have become a society who are so self absorbed and self serving.. Could you pass the man on the street like Stuart and in the quiet of your own head throw a blessing to help that person find a light in the dark ?.. or do you pass them in disgust mumbling what a worthless human he is, treating them as societies throw a ways? This film was amazingly well acted, touching, and in the end I wished I could thank Alexander for his unconditional never judgmental way of living with and loving Stuart.

This BBC movie is fabulous.

It's a true story, based on the book of the same title.

Tom Hardy is Stuart Shorter, a gifted but troubled homeless man.

Benedict Cumberbatch is author Alexander Masters, who accidentally befriends him and finds him delightful company.

This is a must-see for fans of either of those actors.

Unexpected, real, quirky, funny, touching, and weird or occasionally disturbing, but not excessively so.

Mainly fascinating.

It's very well acted, and a moving film.

The film unfolds in a fascinating way, and is easy to follow and understand, while at the same time being very moving.

Definitely worth seeking out and viewing!

Here's an warming real life story transformed into a lovely TV film. It all starts when writer Alexander Masters (Benedict Cumberbatch) having plenty of available time on his hands decided to write the story of a homeless man he met while coordinating an campaign to release from prison the directors of a project that helps homeless people. The man in question is Stuart Shorter (Tom Hardy),an troubled and angered young man who has been arrested several different times, who suffers from a muscular dystrophy and lots of other problems as well but who happens to impress Alexander in a unusual way with some smartness, his humor and a great sense of friendship. And it is Stuart that gives Alexander the idea of writing his story in backwards. "Make it involving, do it like Tom Clancy. What murdered the little boy I was?" he says. And here begins the journey of finding who Stuart was and why he is the way he is now.

David Attwood directs "Stuart: A Life Backwards" with grace and wisdom, working with a depressive subject without sentimentalism and using of plenty of humor, some comic reliefs and a great deal of imagination throughout little animated segments (everytime Masters thinks of Stuart's ideas or picturing moments of his life). What separates this movie from many similar made by Hollywood is the honest portrayal of the main figure, without providing easy answers on why Stuart end up the way he ended. Just like the writer we keep putting the pieces together to form one and definitive Stuart, the man, but even with all the puzzle formed there's the sensation of looking at a distance and still we wouldn't comprehend the image quite right. A simple man, a tragic figure yet so intriguing, so interesting to follow. That's what captivated Alexander and that's what captivates us viewers.

And if the man with all his simplicity and his uniqueness in seeing the world is that fascinating on us is because the actor portraying him is all that as well. Well known for his action roles in pictures like "Rock N'Rolla" and "Inception" the great Tom Hardy gives his most impressive performance so far. Wheter angry, fragile, sick, eternally confused or just sharing a crazy thought, he makes all those feelings and reactions wonderfully. The mannerisms, the ticks, his slurred voice, a real character not an acting show, a perfect embodiment. And Mr. Cumberbacth doesn't get behind, he's very good and together they form a great team (as proved again in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", even though there they a little bit opposite from each other).

"Stuart: A Life Backwards" is a good example of a film that doesn't need much to satisfy its viewers. You can watch over and over again, see new things on each view and see some positive and inspiring things. I highly recommend it. 9/10