King Gimp

When I watched the Academy Award ceremony I had no clue what was this movie that got the Best Documentary award. A couple of weeks later, on an idle Friday evening I was surfing through the channels and something had just begun on Discovery. The title was King Gimp. It sounded familiar. So I watched. It soon came to me, that this was the movie from the Oscars.

I was touched. I cried. It was a very intimate piece of work and the Oscar was certainly well deserved. Bravo to King Gimp!

I first saw this documentary short (which won an Academy Award last year) about ten days ago. I admit upfront a bias, as, like the artist who is the focus of the piece, I have Cerebral Palsy. Although I walk with crutches and my speech is clearer than his, much of what he says and much of his experience in lfe is similar to my own and, I suspect, for many of those who are disabled as well. Although much is made of his disability, much is also made of his art as well and they didn't try to treat him as though he were a dancing bear. It's a powerful affecting film and it haunts me still and will for the rest of my days. It is difficult to be disabled and I'm not talking about physical barriers, but rather the preconceptions people in general have about the disabled. The title King Gimp is apparently a name he was called when he was younger that he adopted for his own use. Althougher he will probably never see these words, I salute him and thank him for telling so much about his life (figuratively bleeding on camera at times that my heart clenches even now, thinking about his words). I am purposely leaving his name out because his story is the story of so many that it does what every artist tries to do at one time or another-create an Everyman. Bravo to everyone involved in this project.

I watched this movie as part of a sociology class in college. We were learning about the discrimination people with disabilities face.

King Gimp is about a young man named Dan Keplinger who was born with cerebral palsy. When he was 12, two filmmakers in Baltimore began to document his life. Even though he was extremely intelligent, it was amazing to see how people sometimes treated him because of his speech impediment and physical disabilities. They filmed him up until he was about age 25. The only issue I had with the movie was that it was very difficult to understand his speech at times.

Otherwise, this was truly an inspirational movie!

The minute I saw this documentary win the award on the Oscars, it captured my curiosity. After seeing this film, I will never complain about a thing. It is incredible what you can accomplish once you put your mind to it. This documentary follows a young man who is stricken with cerebral palsy. Confined to a certain degree in a wheelchair, he struggles for acceptance in an unforgiven society, and chasing his demons as an affluent artist. This film is short but worth the watch.

If you have seen the movie "My Left Foot" you will like this even better. This movie is a true inspiration.