My Left Foot

Daniel Day Lewis is one of the best actors of our time and one of my favorites. It is amazing how much he throws himself in each of the characters he plays making them real.

I remember, many years ago, we had a party in our house - the friends came over, we were sitting around the table, eating, drinking the wine, talking, laughing - having a good time. The TV was on - there was a movie which we did not pay much attention to. Then, suddenly, all of us stopped talking and laughing. The glasses did not clink, the forks did not move, the food was getting cold on the plates. We could not take our eyes off the screen where the young crippled man whose entire body was against him and who only had a control over his left foot, picked up a piece of chalk with his foot and for what seemed the eternity tried to write just one word on the floor. When he finished writing that one word, we all knew that we had witnessed not one but three triumphs - the triumph of a human will and spirit, the triumph of the cinema which was able to capture the moment like this on the film, and the triumph of an actor who did not act but who became his character.

Jim Sheridan's "My Left Foot" is an riveting, unsentimental bio-drama about Christy Brown, the man who was born with cerebral palsy in a Dublin slum; who became an artist and a writer and who found a love of his life.

I like every one of Day Lewis's performances (I have mixed feelings about his performance in GONY) but I believe that his greatest role was Christy Brown in "My Left Foot"

Let me state at the outset that I have Cerebral Palsy and I went into this film expecting to have to make allowances for the lead performance. I left the theater half-convinced that they'd cast an actor who had Cerebral Palsy in the role, even though I knew that was not the case. The performances were generally excellent, with a special nod to Brenda Fricker and to Hugh O'Conner (I believe that's his name) as the young Christy Brown. Christy is talented, brash, arrogant, at times vulgar and petulant-in other words, human. This film, along with Gaby: A True Story and the documentary King Gimp, are excellent portrayals of life with CP. By no means a complete portrait, but fine examples of the disabled as human beings. Most highly recommended.

After watching The Left Foot, I have came to the conclusion that Daniel-Day Lewis the greatest actor alive and perhaps the greatest actor ever! But for the film itself, it's a powerful film that's well directed, well-acted, masterfully written, and provokes a good amount of emotion. But most of all, it spreads awareness about this handicap. Cerebral Palsy is something people should know about this and while not a propaganda piece, this film does a good job on giving the audience information about this disorder.

Jim Sheridan's film tells the biography of a man named Christy Brown. Born with cerebral palsy, the story goes from his tough childhood to his even tougher adulthood where he becomes an expert writer and painter despite the fact he only has mobility with his left foot.

Now on to Daniel Day-Lewis. I think people would agree with me on where I stand with him as an actor. He puts every ounce of effort into his roles and he acts as if he is actually the character he is portraying. After his roles in "In the Name of the Father", "Lincoln", "Gangs of New York", and "There Will Be Blood," I can honestly say he is the best actor ever. Also, I must single out Brenda Fricker in this role as Christy's mother because she does such an amazing job.

Overall, My Left Foot is a wonderful film that tells a story of a condition that many people must suffer through. I am glad there is a film that brings proper awareness to the condition and hence, much emotion is provoked. On technical terms, this film not the best since I felt it could use just a little better editing. But story-wise, yes it is perfect. I rate this film 9/10.

I can still remember the fuss that was made when this movie was first released. Everybody was applauding it. 14 years down the line the film is very dated, but still very enjoyable but more importantly very powerful. The story centers around Poet, artist and author to be Christy Brown. He suffers from Celerbal Paulsy (I hope that is spelled right) which means to be all three of the above occupations is some feat that should not go unnoticed. He lives in a large family (13 children, not all who suffered) in a small terraced house in Dublin's City Center. The movie begins with his birth and the late great Ray Mc Nally being told by a nurse that there were complications during the birth. We move forward a couple years to where we see a young Christy (played by Hugh O'Connor) being helped around by his mother. It is a sad sight to see him underneath the stairs of his family home watching his brothers and sisters (all Abled bodied) living a normal lifestyle (despite being poor) and knowing that he is just as well able to communicate. The finest scene in this early stage of his life is when Christy writes for the first time. In front of his family. His father is sceptical at first however his opinion is reversed when Christy finally proves that he is not the idiot that everybody thinks him to be. We then move to Christy's later teenage years where he meets a nurse with whose help he begins to learn how articulate his words. However Christy becomes infatuated with this lady. His mother is delighted that her son is happy however his father is once again the sceptic but this time he has good cause to as Christy's heart is broken when this woman announces that she is engaged to an Art dealer. This film is brilliant and I have a massive amount of praise for Daniel Day-Lewis who portrays Christy as an angry young man who is coming to terms with everything in his life. He is disturbed by womens reluctance to accept him and his condition, He is fed up of his fathers treatment of his mother and his siblings. Day-Lewis is totally immersed in his character and it is one of his finest roles. I have seen old interviews with the real Christy Brown and I can safely say that it is hard at times to distinguish is it Christy Brown or Daniel Day-Lewis on the screen. However the show is stolen from him by the finer performances of young Hugh O'Connor and Ray Mc Nally. Both of whom should have got Oscars as Best Supporting Actor (O'Connor) and Best Actor (Ray Mc Nally). O'Connor definitely proves himself in the role because he portrays the same qualities that Day-Lewis does as a frustrated youngster. Mc Nally defines the typical Irish Father role that would be made humorous by Colm Meaney in a number of films. It is such a great pity that he died shortly after this film. Brenda Fricker must also be mentioned as the doting mother who does everything that she can to help Christy reach his full potential. Again she is life like to Christy Browns real life mother however I think there were more deserving people for that Best Supporting Actress Oscar. This film is an amazing piece of independent film making and it really does so the potential of Jim Sheridan as a director and actor. He would further develop the themes of family, Irish society, loyalty in his other films. 9 out of 10.

Christy Brown is born with cerebral palsy. His father (Ray McAnally) refuses to give him up and he learns to live with controlling only his left foot. His loving mother (Brenda Fricker) tirelessly raise him. As a child (Hugh O'Conor), everybody assumed that he's a simpleton until he wrote MOTHER with chalk. As a young man (Daniel Day-Lewis), he is rejected by the pretty girl. His father loses his job and becomes abusive. He falls for Dr. Cole (Fiona Shaw) treating his cerebral palsy but she's engaged. As an older man, he falls for his nurse Sheila (Alison Whelan).

It's a tough way to act for Daniel Day-Lewis. It's not just the physicality but he has to make sense despite his speech pattern. He has to be understandable without speaking understandable English. It's his anger and his unlikeability that brings out his humanity. He's not playing a saint or a caricature. It's a real person. It's an all-around performance.