My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown (1989)

Ireland, United Kingdom

Drama

Ferndale Films, Granada Television, RTÉ

Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Eanna MacLiam, Marie Conmee, Cyril Cusack

Jim Sheridan

Shane Connaughton, Jim Sheridan

Taglines: A film about life, laughter, and the occasional miracle.

bodily disabled person, poet, biography, based on true story, foot, flashback, author, working class, disabled, cerebral palsy

No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.

NA