MY LEFT FOOT - DVD review

When I first approached this film years ago, I remember doing so with more than a little reluctance. After all, I thought, who wanted to watch a movie about a cerebral palsy victim? Boy, was I wrong.

Based on the autobiography of Irish artist and writer Christy Brown, 1989's "My Left Foot" is as honest, vigorous, uplifting, entertaining, and thoroughly enjoyable a film as you'll find, helped in large measure by outstanding performances by Daniel Day-Lewis as Brown and Brenda Fricker as his mother. Day-Lewis deservedly won a Best Actor Oscar that year as did Fricker for Best Supporting Actress. Thanks to them and director Jim Sheridan (who cowrote the screenplay), the movie presents a vigorous portrait of a real-life character whose indomitable spirit helped him overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

Christy Brown was born with cerebral palsy, a brain disorder that left him paralyzed in every limb and extremity of his body except his left foot. It is amazing what the man accomplished with so little to work with physically. He became a celebrated artist--a painter of pictures--and a writer with his autobiography. Yes, fortunately, there was nothing wrong with his thinking ability, although it took a while for his family to realize this fact and for young Christy to communicate it to them.

But don't think that "My Left Foot" is one of those sentimental, lovably uplifting stories where the unfortunate victim of the malady is all sweetness and light and we cheer for him the whole way. Not on your life. In his book Christy Brown freely admits his faults, and the movie clearly identifies them. The story makes no bones about Brown's feisty disposition, his alcoholism, his fits of temper, his rocky romances, his despair, and his attempted suicide. Still, it is these darker aspects of the man's nature that make him more real, make us believe in him as a human being.

Equally important to the film's success is Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. The actor becomes the character in a way that few actors actually inhabit a screen role. Perhaps it's the chameleonlike makeup of Day-Lewis's movie portrayals that impresses one; he is clearly one of moviedom's finest performers. Yet this performance goes beyond even what we might expect of him. He simply is Christy Brown. In fact, when we see the real Christy Brown in one of the DVD's accompanying featurettes, we may be tempted to say to ourselves, "That's not Christy Brown. I just saw Christy Brown, and this is an impostor."

Others in the cast lend to the story's believability. Certainly, Brenda Fricker as Christy's mother puts in as fine and sensitive a rendering as possible of this long-suffering woman. Fricker conveys an unassailable will; she never encourages Christy to get his hopes up, yet she never gives up on him, either. Ray McAnally plays Christy's father, a hard man to live with, loud and boastful but tender and caring. Interestingly, McAnally's character dies in the film, and McAnally himself died shortly after the film's release. And I must not forget Hugh O'Conor, who plays Christy as a child in a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination as well.

Christy, born in 1932, came from an exceptionally large family, the mother giving birth to twenty-one children, thirteen of whom survived. They all lived together in a small Dublin tenement. The movie is quite brief, 103 minutes, and it rightly focuses on Christy's coming to terms with his handicap and with his family relationships. It almost wholly ignores world-shaking events of the day like the Great Depression and World War II in lieu of Christy's more intimate, personal story. Fair enough. In addition, we see his adventures playing football, stealing much-needed heating coal, and romancing several women.

The first of the women we see in his life (other than family) is his physical therapist, Eileen Cole (Fiona Shaw), the doctor who teaches Christy to speak more clearly and who brings Christy's painting to public notice. But Christy misinterprets Dr. Cole's attention to him, mistaking it for love. He's crushed when she marries another man. Not that an Irishman is said to need a reason to drink, but his resultant despondency leads to his overindulgence in alcohol. The second love of his life is Mary (Ruth McCabe), an attendant with whom he first flirts and later marries.

The highlight of the movie for me, however, is a heartrending episode where the young Christy is first able to prove to his parents and family that is not the "moron," the "dunce," that they and the neighbors think he is for his first few years of his life. With much difficulty, and with much lack of initial success, Christy uses a stick of chalk between his toes to write "MOTHER" on the living-room floor. The family are shocked, astounded, and ultimately pleased and proud that their son is mentally normal. It is a moving scene guaranteed to bring tears to one's eyes. Little do they know for some time to come that Christy is gifted and talented as well.

Shortcomings? Not really. I wasn't too keen on the framework of the story being told in flashbacks from the time of a cerebral palsy benefit where an adult Christy is the guest of honor. The intercutting of past and present seemed unnecessarily to interrupt the flow of the narrative, but it was nothing I'd quibble about.

Mostly, "My Left Foot" is a boisterous, joyous affair, often funny, often brawling, sometimes sad, but always affecting. It's a unique screen portrayal of a man filled with understandable contradictions: pride, self-pity, rage, determination, genius, and compassion. "My Left Foot" never takes a false step.

Video:
Thanks to Buena Vista's high-bit-rate, anamorphic transfer, the picture quality on "My Left Foot" is pretty good, particularly in regard to color depth. The screen ratio measures out at about 1.77:1, the size of a 16x9 widescreen television, and the image provides good detail. Minor faults include a touch of grain, rendering things a bit rough; a degree of darkness; several black flecks on screen at the beginning of the film; and a few flickering lines. The resultant transfer is typical of what we see from a film ten-to-twenty years old or more.

Audio:
The sound has been remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1, but it doesn't help matters a lot in the rear channels, where we get the merest whisper of musical ambiance enhancement and the occasional, maybe, odd noise. The front channels fare a little better, although they, too, show a preponderance of sound coming from the center channel. The greatest benefit of the DD processing is heard in the clarity and quietness of the sound, which has an especially good high end that is realistically extended.

Extras:
Among the extras are two featurettes. The first is "The Real Christy Brown Story," four minutes of pictures and reminiscences of the actual man and his life. The second is "An Inspirational Journey: The Making of My Left Foot," ten minutes with the filmmakers discussing their research, casting, and shooting of the film. They are not very long, but at least they provide us a glimpse of the real man. In addition, there are reviews of "My Left Foot" by four influential critics: Charles Champlin, David Denby, Pauline Kael, and Elvis Mitchell; plus a still gallery. The extras conclude with Sneak Peeks at several other BV dramas on DVD; eighteen scene selections, with a chapter insert; English and French spoken languages; and French and Spanish subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Thoughts:
I would urge readers who have never seen "My Left Foot" not to be put off by the subject matter. This is one of the best dramas you'll find at your video store, a slice of life that is not entirely elevating but is surely satisfying and rewarding. Daniel Day-Lewis may be a temperamental actor, choosing to make only a handful of films at his own pace, but he never puts in a bad performance, this one probably his crowning achievement (so far).

In addition to Day-Lewis and Fricker winning acting Oscars, the film was Academy Award nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Writing.