Deeply moving and flawlessly
performed My Left Foot is a brilliant portrayal of human courage and capacity
of mind beyond physical ability. This true story based on the life of Christy
Brown who was a writer and a painter that was born with Cerebral palsy a
syndrome causes severe disability. His left foot being the only limb he has
control of Christy lived a full life defeating the odds and becoming one of the
most respected individual of the time. This movie from its start to the very
end is highly enjoyable though it has many moments of pain embedded. The joy of
it is no doubt the success that Christy achieves but there are equally heartwarming
and wonderful moments of what a truly loving family can offer as well. Christie’s
dreams wouldn’t have become a success without the support he got from his
family, especially his mother.
Though performances of characters
with disabilities is nothing new to the movies My Left Foot brings in one of
the most challenging of roles to light. Christy is portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis
and the acting is staggering. While Daniel obviously received the Oscar for
best performance for this movie (And he is the only actor who has won 3 Oscar’s
in the best actor category) I don’t want to forget the child actor who does
Christie’s child hood part as well. Because both of them combined delivers a
Christy for the viewer who is full of life and determination. Christie’s character
is a symbol of how an actor should actually perform someone else’s life as if
it was their own.
The movie runs smooth moving back
and forth from the present to past without hanging on to any scene for too
long. It skips many years on the whole at times but makes no flaws in development
of the story. The other characters including his mother, father and the many
siblings of the family fits in neatly and there are no excessive drama than
what it really requires. Director Jim Sheridan who is well known for his talent
in making biography based movies indeed shows that he is born for nothing else
but making movies.
There are many broken dreams and
hopes yet there is always joy through tears found in unexpected circumstances. My
Left Foot is a must watch for drama and biography fans.
Genre: Biography | Drama
Director: Jim Sheridan
