During the next few days, I'll be reviewing three "Irish" films. I've got a wee bit of Irish in me (about 1/8th), so I say I'm entitled to opine on these films and I'll knock down any man who says otherwise! The quotation marks around "Irish" are because only two of the films are officially designated as Irish productions or co-productions. The third is officially a U.K. production, but all three have Irish subject matter and Irish-born directors. Two of the three, including the present film, are the work of director Jim Sheridan.

Historical Background: Jim Sheridan was born on February 5th, 1949 in Dublin, Ireland. He organized a theatrical company as soon as he graduated from college and operated Dublin's main alternative theater, called the Project Art Centre. He later spent time in New York City, from 1981-1989, attending New York University and running the city's Irish Arts Center. He made his first film, My Left Foot (1989), shortly after returning to Ireland. It is such a remarkable debut film that it may be tough for Sheridan to surpass its quality over the course of the rest of his career. Sheridan received an Academy Award nomination as Best Director for the film. Sheridan's subsequent films have included The Field (1990), In the Name of the Father (1993), The Boxer (1998), and In America (2002). The best of those films are probably the second and the fourth. In America was partly autobiographical. Sheridan also wrote the script for Into the West (1993). Sheridan is exceedingly busy, presently, with one film in post-production (Get Rich or Die Tryin'), one in production (Da Vinci's Mother), and two projects announced for next year (Emerald City and one announced but untitled). His production company is called "Hell's Kitchen." Sheridan spends a long time planning his work before shooting begins and during that time supports himself by making videos and commercials for large Asian corporations. Sheridan owns a thoroughbred racehorse named Vinnie Roe. Two of his daughters, Kristen and Naomi, are writers in Ireland.

The Story: Christy Brown (Hugh O'Conor) was born in 1932 into a poor working class Irish family in Dublin, Ireland, the ninth of twenty-two children, of which thirteen survived. Christy was born with severe cerebral palsy, a congenital disorder in which portions of the central nervous system have been damaged in utero. Christy's body is twisted and mostly paralyzed. The only limb of which he has use is his left leg. He also can't vocalize normally and is therefore also thought to be cognitively deficient, by everyone except his mother (Brenda Fricker), who is attuned to the responsiveness of his eyes. Christy spends much of his time plopped down on a blanket under the stairs, from where he can see and hear the goings-on of the family, but is unable to participate in any active way. One day, when a sister is struggling with a math problem ("What is one quarter of a quarter?"), Christy picks up a piece of chalk between his toes and tries to scribble the answer, but it is not understood. On another occasion, however, he uses the chalk to print the letter "A" and then the entire word "MOTHER." The startled father (Ray McAnally) is so elated that he carries Christy down to the local tavern on his shoulders to buy the boy a pint. He walks in proudly announcing, "My son – the genius!"

With this triumph of communication behind him, Christy becomes more fully integrated into family activities. Outside with the other children, Christy is carted around in a wheelbarrow. He plays goalie during the street hockey games and stops a shot by trapping the ball against the pavement with his head. On another occasion, he scores a penalty shot using his left leg. Christy is thus successfully integrated and mainstreamed right to the limits of his capability. His siblings neither mock him nor pamper him unduly. One day, however, some boys hide a "dirty magazine" in Christy's wagon, when one of the mothers suddenly approaches. Later, Christy's mother discovers the contraband, which leads to an obligatory but ridiculous lecture from the local priest about the risks of eternal damnation. Exactly what they thought Christy was doing with the magazine is hard to imagine. Even Christy's left foot wasn't that clever!

One day, Christy's mother passes out at the base of the stairs. Christy rolls off his bed, drags himself to the top of the stairs, and slides down. At the base of the staircase, lying beside his mother, he is able to make enough of a racket by kicking the door to attract help. Another time, Christy comes up with a scheme to get the family some free coal, to heat their cold home.

As he matures into adolescence, Christy (Daniel Day-Lewis) becomes increasing adept at manipulating implements with the toes of his left foot. He learns to paint, put a record on a turntable, and use a typewriter. He experiences his first romance, during a game of spin the bottle, but later his offering of a painted Valentine to the girl (Ruth McCabe) is politely returned. Teenage romance is tough enough for physically healthy teens, but brutal for the disadvantaged.

When Christy is nineteen, a clinic is opened in Dublin and Dr. Eileen Cole (Fiona Shaw), a specialist in cerebral palsy, invites Christy to participate, at no cost. Most of the patients are younger, however, and Christy feels out of place. Cole persists, however, and engages Christy in speech therapy, improving his vocalizations from mere guttural sounds that only his mother can understand to a level of clarity that many can understand, at least in part. Dr. Cole also arranges an exhibition of Christy's drawing at the art studio belonging to her friend, Peter (Adrian Dunbar). Unfortunately, Christy develops romantic feelings for Dr. Cole and is crushed when he learns that she will be marrying Peter in six months. During a dinner at a restaurant, Christy's rage, combined with too much alcohol, leads to an ugly outburst on Christy's part. Back home, Christy is so depressed that he attempts suicide with a razor held between his toes, but is unable to pull it off.

Christy may be ready to throw in the towel, but his mother isn't. She sets out to build Christy a room of his own, where he can have more freedom to paint and write. When the father and brothers find her laboring away, they all chip in and have the brick walls erected in no time. Soon thereafter, Christy's father dies and the entire family stops at the pub after the wake for a pint. They end up in an altercation (initiated by Christy, of all people) with some other patrons, demolishing the establishment.

With the help of one of his brothers, Christy becomes a published author, writing about his own experiences, growing up with cerebral palsy. He's now able to make a significant contribution to the family's financial resources. He's also invited to appear as the guest of honor at a special fundraising benefit for kids with disabilities. There, he makes the acquaintance of a nurse, Sheila (Alison Whelan), who has been hired as his caretaker for the day. She later becomes his wife.

Themes: The theme, I think, is the resilience of the human spirit that sometimes manifests in the most dire of circumstances. This film belongs to the general class of films that might be labeled "triumph-over-adversity" stories, but it provides something of a fresh take on the basic idea. Christy is not consumed with the idea of fitting in or being like other people. He's past that point. He triumphs by achieving his maximum potential as a person and more than anyone initially thought to be within the realm of his possibilities. Although the film might appear to be specific to the issue of coping with disability, there is universality to the issue of men and women struggling to communicate inner thoughts and feelings to others. The film also nicely explores the ways in which feelings of rage are sometimes sublimated into artistic and literary expression.

Production Values: My Left Foot was based on the first semi-autobiographical book by Christy Brown, published in 1955, in which he recalled aspects of his childhood and coming-of-age. The script is also informed by reminiscences of people who knew Christy. Sheridan wrote the screenplay in conjunction with playwright Shane Connaughton. Structurally, the film consists of a series of flashbacks from a special gala fundraising event at which Christy is to be honored. The script is passionately empathetic and nonjudgmental, yet blunt and aggressive in delving into the multifaceted experiences of a complex man. If the film pulls any punches, it is the lack of mention of Christy Brown's death in 1981, when he choked to death during dinner one evening. Sheridan plunges us directly into the miserable wreck of a body that was Brown's cross in life. Sheridan is able to do so without making viewers miserable by approaching his subject matter with a combination of dry simplicity and good humor, allowing us to laugh, not at Christy, but with Christy. Sheridan shows us a man with courage and intelligence but also something of a temper and too much of a taste for alcoholic beverages.

Christy developed a ribald sense of good humor. One evening, when his father was in a temper and forcing one of Christy's brothers to eat an unpalatable porridge, Christy muttered, in a quotation from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, "Who's been eating my porridge?" The father could not understand Christy but the siblings and the mother could, and all began to chuckle. When the father grew angry at the laughter, Christy added, "Burst his brain, the barbarian!" That caustic comment provoked an outburst of uproarious laughter. The father, still not knowing what Christy had said, was furious and approached Christy as though to strike him, but thought better of hitting a completely defenseless invalid. Christy could get away with a level of rebelliousness that wouldn't have been tolerated in any of the other children. Sheridan makes sure that we get to share that special capacity for deft humor that Christy developed.

In addition to Christy's story, the script also nicely portrays the struggles of a lower class family in Ireland. The Browns were a large family, all crammed together in tight quarters. When Mr. Brown gets laid off, at one point, the family sinks, for a while, from working class status into outright poverty. There's also a delicate slap at the absurdity of religion, when Christy is taken to see the priest after a dirty magazine is found in his pram. The priest lectures Christy about the impossibility of escaping from hell. Christy is already mired in a kind of hell with no possibility of escape, so the hell of Christianity poses little threat to Christy.

The cinematography is good, though it's more the functional variety than lavish or engaging in its own right. Viewer attention will be riveted instead, for this movie, on the brilliant performances by, first, Hugh O'Conor, as the young Christy Brown, and, especially, Daniel Day-Lewis, as Christy beginning with age seventeen. Day-Lewis immersed himself fully in the role, mastering not only the physical aspects of cerebral palsy but the psychological torment as well. I encountered more than one review on the internet written by a person with cerebral palsy, each attesting to the amazing authenticity of Day-Lewis's performance. The Academy thought so too, delivering the Oscar trophy to Day-Lewis for his work. Day-Lewis is a brilliant and versatile actor who has excelled in a wide variety of roles in such films as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room with a View (1985), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), In the Name of the Father (1993), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Crucible (1996), and Gangs of New York (2002).

Ray McAnally gave his final film performance as Christy's father. He previously appeared in The Mission (1986). Brenda Fricker was brilliant as the mother, earning an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. There were fine supporting performances, as well, from Fiona Shaw as Dr. Cole, Alison Whelan as Sheila, and Ruth McCabe as the girl who gave Christy his first kiss. My Left Foot was shot in Ireland and drew entirely on indigenous Irish talent.

Bottom-Line: The Miramax DVD provides a very nice package of extras with this film. One, called The Real Christy Brown Story, consists of about four minutes worth of photographs and reminiscences about Christy Brown. Next, there's a ten-minute featurette about the making of the film. There's a gallery of still photos and four reviews of the film written by such film critic luminaries as Pauline Kael, Charles Champlin, David Denby, and Elvis Mitchell. Optional subtitles are provided in English, French, and Spanish. In addition to the Oscar trophies for Day-Lewis and Fricker, My Left Foot and those who worked on making it earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Not bad for a debut film!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older