Dance Me to My Song

Although quite difficult to watch because of some of the violence, it is a very realistic portrait of a young handicapped girl and her care-giver. Having taught children and adolescents with these kinds of handicaps, I and my wife were completely enthralled and could not leave our TV screen. Yes we winced at some of the violence and hoped for a good ending, but this is a must movie. Ironically, this kind or movie does not show up on English TV but was shown on Canada's French language "life" network! What a pleasure! An excellent picture. Oh, I forgot... the movie, even though shown on a French language network, was not dubbed, so if you wish to view this excellent picture, please watch "Aime-moi telle que je suis". An experience you won't forget!

It appears that previous reviewers have failed to pick up upon a central theme of this unique film. Why didn't Julia just get rid of Madeline, they say? ... cardboard characters and doesn't make any sense, they say ... must be because good housekeepers are hard to come by, they say.

Of course this is a crude simplification, and what they have missed is that Julia, despite her crippling physical disability, was able to empathise with Madeline's hopelessness and despair and through a sense of unreciprocated friendship and sense of duty, refused to cut the relationship short. This is evidenced in two key scenes: Firstly, in the initial abandonment scene, there is a lingering shot of the emergency button as Julia contemplates pressing it. Later, as a post date rape follow-up, Madeline cuddles Julia and looks to her for support in bed, where a careful eye should read the compassion in Julia's face. To me this exemplifies the most compelling aspect of the film, namely, Madeline, despite her good looks and seductive sexuality, was the emotional cripple juxtaposed with the warmth and love of life displayed by Julia.

This film has given me a new perspective ...

A strange, compelling film about a topic we never hear much about. Severely disabled people don't have a voice in our cultural landscape. Like in other films, De Heer manages to tackle topics in ways which are confronting and innovative, such as the way the microphones on Rose's body pick up her body's sounds and give us a very subjective view of her physicality. The script was mostly written by Heather Rose, who played the main role and sadly passed away a few years after the film was made. Apparently she wrote the script together with another severely disabled writer on an early bulletin board (pre-internet) The film is challenging, provocative and has surprising moments of humour.

Isn't creativity and innovation what the art of film-making should be about? Check out other De Heer movies, too, they're all different from each other. B. Huber

A remarkable film which stays with you long after you leave the theatre

"Admirable" and "courageous" are two words that come to mind while watching "Dance Me to My Song." "Frank," "candid" and "uncompromising" can also be used to describe this Australian film about Julia, a woman with a severe form of cerebral palsy that prevents her from doing the most basic things, like getting dressed or going to the bathroom. She's played by Heather Rose, who really is afflicted with cerebral palsy, and who co-wrote the script. (I'll admit feeling acutely uncomfortable at times watching Rose's Julia as she writhes and contorts while making gurgling noises - I'm sure that says a lot more about me than the film or Ms. Rose.)

I saw this movie at the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. (where it was shown as part of FilmFest DC '99). "Dance Me to My Song" deserves a lot of credit for refusing to blink at Julia's condition. We see her completely undressed; Julia's nakedness conveys her vulnerability without being the least bit prurient or exploitive. Julia is very much at the mercy of Madelaine, her latest assigned caregiver. And it quickly becomes apparent that Madelaine is an extremely selfish person who has no business caring for Julia or anyone else. How she uses - and abuses - Julia is at the core of this drama. Also figuring prominently in the plot is a rather mysterious man named Eddie, whom Julia manages to befriend after comically blocking his path with her motorized wheelchair.

As straightforward and unpretentious as this film is, one thing it's not is... terribly complicated. I'm hard-pressed to think of any scene where it isn't abundantly clear how we're supposed to react; everything is so clear-cut. This scene will make you smile, that one will make you shed a tear, this one will make you laugh, and that one will make you want to shout in anger. The film falls short of true greatness, IMHO, by making Madelaine a near-total witch. There are a few attempts at making Madelaine a more three-dimensional character (including a scene in which she sits by herself and cries), but in the end, it's apparent that we're just supposed to hate her. Further stacking the deck are visits from a woman named Rix, one of Julia's former caregivers who's meant to be every bit as wonderful as Madelaine is horrible. (When Madelaine gets a form of comeuppance from Rix, it's as if the audience is expected to cheer. The AFI audience didn't.) Viewers might rightly wonder: If Madelaine is so awful, why doesn't Julia get rid of her? We get something of an explanation fairly late in the film - it's implied that caregivers are hard to come by, which suggests a lot of borderlines slip through - but it doesn't really explain why Julia tolerates as much ill treatment as she does. (The movie is too preoccupied with making Julia out to be a total victim to consider the possibility of an abuser-enabler relationship.)

Also - and I think this is a legitimate point - for all the time we spend with her, I don't feel as though we get to know Julia all that well (unlike, say, the way I think we become acquainted with Daniel Day-Lewis' Christy Brown in "My Left Foot"). Part of this may have to do with the fact that Julia (and, I assume, Heather Rose) lacks the power of speech (unlike Christy Brown), and must rely on a "voice machine" to synthesize simple spoken sentences. I mourn as a lost opportunity a scene in which Eddie reads a lengthy message that Julia has left on the screen of her personal computer, a message which must have required a Herculean effort on Julia's part to type out. The camera sweeps past the monitor; we can only pick out a few phrases. (The gist of the message is summarized by the film's title.) This was our best chance to experience Julia's inner voice at length, and the movie skips over it.

Still, "Dance Me to My Song" is a strongly acted film, very much worth seeing.