My Left Foot (100 Films, 100 Movies) Ireland

My Left Foot (1989)

Universal Themes: the need for self-expression, affection, and communication.

My Left Foot is the true story of writer, painter Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy. My Left Foot is not your typical “overcoming adversity” movie. I found myself being empathetic of Christy's battle to find a way to communicate and express himself, but not always sympathetic of how he treated others to get there. Often in these types of films, the protagonist is sympathetic to a fault. This film is a lot more honest than others. It's not schmaltzy. Christy Brown is not always likable. He can be funny and charming, but he also is bull-headed and manipulative. The main bulk of the movie is based on Brown's autobiography of the same name written in 1954 when he was 22.

This movie is very much what you expect from an Irish film. It's about a huge family of more than a dozen kids, a borderline abusive father, and a industrious, unwavering mother (played by Brenda Fricker.) The family (and especially the mother) is defined by their Catholicism. The family is poor having to save up for years to buy a wheelchair for Christy. It now seems like such a typical Irish theme, but I don't know if that is just because of Angela's Ashes.

The acting in My Left Foot is wonderful. Particularly by Daniel Day Lewis and Fricker, who both won Academy Awards. Day Lewis gives such a powerful performance with passion and humor. Many would focus on his external mannerisms. He mimics the voice and movements of someone with cerebral palsy, but the heart of the artist comes through.

Spoiler: After, watching the My Left Foot I decided to look up a bit about Brown to see how accurate the film is. And without giving anything away, it has a tacked on happy ending that made me feel like it didn't really belong with the rest of the film. This is the weakest part of the movie. After looking it up I found that there was a lot not included in My Left Foot that would have made for a more compelling ending, though it would have told a different story all together. I guess because this film is supposed to be about the early years of Christy Brown's life and not an overview of his whole life. That being said another film could definitely be made about the later years of his life.