My Left Foot

An alternative to the general run of "triumph over the odds" biopics, My Left Foot is the true story of Irish cerebral palsy victim Christy Brown. Paralyzed from birth, Brown (played by Hugh O'Conor as child and Daniel Day-Lewis as an adult) is written off as retarded and helpless. But Christy's ...more

Film and TV productions about the severely ill frequently dwell only on a character's Jekyll, not his Hyde. The idea is to give viewers a feel-good character to root for or cry about, someone who overcomes impossible odds to live a triumphant life or who dies gently without the burning and raging advised by Dylan Thomas. This 1989 production presents the whole of its central character, Christy Brown, a victim of cerebral palsy who has one functioning appendage, his left foot. Not only does the ...more