My Left Foot [Blu-ray]

If you haven't seen this Daniel Day-Lewis movie yet, you must! It is a biographical movie about an Irish man named Christy Brown, who was born with severe cerebral palsy. He had great difficulty speaking and could not walk. The one body part he had mastery with was his left foot. He became an author, poet, and artist. When I first watched this movie years ago (in 1989), I was convinced that Day-Lewis was an actor with cerebral palsy. He is one of the most gifted of actors in the world today. Fully immersing himself in the character he is portraying. This movie won multiple awards including an Academy Award for Daniel Day-Lewis. As Roger Ebert, film critic, said, "My Left Foot is a great film for many reasons, but the most important is that it gives us such a complete picture of this man's life. It is not an inspirational movie, although it inspires. It is not a sympathetic movie, although it inspires sympathy. It is the story of a stubborn, difficult, blessed and gifted man who was dealt a bad hand, who played it brilliantly, and who left us some good books, some good paintings and the example of his courage. It must not have been easy." My Left Foot is a must see.

Love this movie! First viewed years ago. So happy to find it on DVD!Daniel Day Lewis does an awesome job portraying a man with cerebral palsy & could only control his left foot. He grew more & more restless with his limitations because he has a very brilliant & creative mind. He had things he ached to share with the world but his speech was only partially understood by his family.Through his frustrations & desire to share what was in him he discovered with practice he could hold a pencil & scratch onto paper his words. His name was Christy Brown. He became a world famous writer & artist. Highly reccommend.

WITH BLU-RAY AND FULL MOVIE REVIEWINTRO: Based on Christy Brown's autobiographical book by the same name, the movie My Left Foot is one of those exceptional tales of the human spirit told in an exceptional way. With very little melodrama, it allows us to be enlightened, amazed, and inspired while still seeing some of the subject's warts or imperfections. It can make us question our own excuses for not overcoming personal obstacles.THE STORY: Legendary Irish author and painter Christy Brown was born with cerebral palsy to a poor working class family in Dublin 1932. Despite recommendations from doctors to put him in a home, the large family insists on the challenge of caring for him themselves. With all the physical debilitations of CP, the one limb that Christy can effectively control and manipulate is his left foot. The movie depicts a somewhat hard bitten family that struggles for subsistence and sleeps in communal beds. Christy is well loved and protected, but there is a certain acceptance that he cannot communicate or even understand his surroundings to some degree. The family may display some of those harsh stereotypes (at least as the movie depicts), but when push comes to shove, don't mess with the family! Despite preconceptions, Christy will show sparks of intelligence and understanding as he catches his family's attention, then shows inner brilliance with opportunities of education that present themselves. One could say the economic reality itself would have been a great barrier to success, let alone the challenge of CP. However, we see how Christy not only improves his situation with his disability, but turns that very condition into a path to success in a way. Of course he has help and is pushed at times by those who loved him. This is not a canonization of a perfect individual. Just a story of triumph despite all one's flaws.OTHER THOUGHTS: It was heartening to see the community congeal around Christy and include him in the simplest activities such as a game of football. Even hilarious as much as it was touching. Seeing the family protect each other in a scrap with another party over a snide comment was a highlight of the whole movie! I have to admit this is one of those stories I will remember and ask myself what the excuse is when I am feeling sorry for myself, or that I can't do something. Every person has a hidden corner of exceptionality waiting inside of us. This is an extraordinary tale of someone who found it against all odds.REMASTERED BLU RAY EDITION: The 2015 release of the 1989 movie has received a restoration for all new picture quality that is quite excellent overall. The colors are very good. The film has little grain and it appears they opted for a smooth look (rather than sharper, but with more grain). I was very happy overall with the upgrade. I didn't expect reference quality from an 80's movie. Though the colors are very good, there is also a very slight washed look that I think was part of the color pallet. Here are other specs on this disc: Blu Ray features 1080p video, a lossless 5.1 soundtrack, and supplements include: The Real Christy Brown and An Inspirational Journey: The Making of My Left Foot. 1:85:1 aspect ratio. Subtitles/Captions English SDH, SpanishACCOLADES: Daniel Day-Lewis won the first of his three (time of writing this) Leading Actor awards for his performance. Brenda Fricker also won best Supporting Actress. The film received a total of 5 Academy Award nominations including best picture and best director. It also won many other awards outside the Oscars.

There is something distinctly relatable about My Left Foot for me personally. I was born with cerebral palsy and have had to endure numerous people tell me that I couldn’t do things and tell my mother that I wouldn’t amount to anything. But much like Christy Brown, I had a very strong mother and a will that I wasn’t just going to sit in the corner and drool on myself all day. While I am no world renowned writer and painter, I related very strongly to the main character in this film including his struggles with relationships with the opposite sex.Beyond my personal story, Daniel Day Lewis delivered a spectacular performance because it is really difficult to play someone that physically disabled because you have to treat the real life person with respect, while making it look believable. I totally forgot that Daniel Day Lewis was an able-bodied actor during that one hour forty minutes. That proves he was well worth the 1989 Academy Award.The supporting actors deserve praise as well. The many actors who played the family at various stages really brought to life the struggle that many families with disabled relatives go through of how to involve their relative while struggling with how society may look at them. I also thought it was an interesting cinematic choice to tell the story as part of a series of flashbacks as Christy prepares to speak at this event. It is a technique that is rarely used well.My Left Foot is a cinematic triumph and a personal triumph illustrative of the true possibilities of the human spirit. I wish I could give it six stars.

I'm fortunate to be one of many people who's work involves supporting people with disabilities, some of whom profoundly so.I can only think that this film with it's great actors will help everyone to understand more about what living with such a disability can mean to those people who have not the courage that Christie Brown created for himself as he reached maturity. I'm always concerned when people talk about 'being normal'…what is normal? I believe that people who 'speak in guttural sounds' feel that they are communicating with the sound and senses that most non-disabled feel about their voice. Anyway, if you didn't see this portrayal of Christie Brown, just see it if you can. How anyone can not award this film 5 stars is beyond comprehension.

I've been wanting to see this film for years and for some unknown reason i never managed to until recently.It's very good.D.D.Lewis is very good.But what a lot of reviewers seem to fail to mention is that the young actor, Hugh O'Connor, who plays Kristy brown as a boy, is every bit as riveting a performance as his grown up counter part. And without his marvellous contribution, DDLewis wouldn't have had the platform to leap into the second half of the film. It most definately would have been a lop sided affair. So hats (and socks) off to the casting director.Some of the editing jars a little, but there's no getting away from the power and the intensity not only of DDLewis's central performance, but the ensemble as a whole. What i probably enjoyed most about DDLewis's performance was how sparingly he played the part. Portraying a character that had to fight for everything he achieved. Creating a hardened exterior in order, not only to survive the day to day poverty and physical barriers he had to endure and overcome, but also, to guard his poet's sensibility. A Fragile yet fearless man. Tormented by the body's restrictions and frustrated by his artist's need to express the love he wanted to give, and the love he most desperately sought to recieve.It is a film that was made on a shoestring budget, £600,000 and went to video in this country, within about a fortnight after its release.........and subsequently made about $15,000,000.upon its release in the U.S And won numerous awards globally.The rest is history.

Brilliant film, excellent speed of delivery, as described and chuffed with item x

Fantastic film, the acting is brilliant...what a great movie. Saw the film years ago & decided to buy it. Well worth watching 😊

Good film and this with make you laugh with what he says about the porridge