Hugh O’Conor | Through the Shattered Lens

“This is Christy Brown, writer, genius!”

So declares Patrick Brown (Ray McAnally) as he carries his son, Christy Brown, into a Dublin pub. It’s one of the most emotional moments to be found in the 1989 Best Picture nominee, My Left Foot. Based on the main character’s memoir, My Left Foot tells the story of Christy Brown, wh was born into a working class Dublin family of 15 and who grew up to become an acclaimed writer and artist. Afflicted with cerebral palsy, Brown’s left foot was the only part of his body that he had full control over. The film follow Brown as he learns to write, paint, and communicate with that foot. As a child, Christy Brown is played by Hugh O’Conor. As a young man, he’s played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who apparently stayed in character even when he wasn’t filming. Day-Lewis won his first Oscar for his performance as Christy Brown. Brenda Fricker won a Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Christy’s mother, Bridget Fagan Brown, making My Left Foot the first Irish film to win any competitive Oscars. I would argue that Ray McAnally, at the very least, deserved a nomination for Supporting Actor as well. (Sadly, McAnally passed away shortly before the release of My Left Foot.)

My Left Foot is an inspiring movie but, at the same time, it’s an honest one. Christy Brown’s life is never portrayed as being easy and Christy himself is never portrayed as being a saint. There are time when Christy is pissed off at the world, at one point even starting a brawl in a pub. Even after Christy is accepted into a school for people with Cerebral Palsy and he has the first exhibition of his work, there is still heartbreak. Christy has fallen in love with a woman named Eileen (Fiona Shaw) and when he discovers that she’s engaged, he comes close to ending his own life. It’s a not to watch as Christy’s pain feels so real and so intense that you almost feel like an intruder while watching. The film leaves you cheering for Christy and happy that he’s found a way to express his feelings and his intelligence but at the same time, it never fools you into thinking that Christy is going to have an easy life. The film’s too honest to end on a note of false hope.

My Left Foot features one of Daniel Day-Lewis’s best performances. (Though who say that every Day-Lewis performance is one of his best have obviously never seen Nine.) Day-Lewis not only captures Christy’s physical condition but, even more importantly, he allows us into Christy’s mind. We get to know Christy as much for his sharp wit and intellect as for his physical disability. Brenda Fricker plays Bridget as being earthy but supportive, someone who always tries to do the best for her son. But the performance that really makes me cry is the performance of Ray McAnally, who initially doesn’t know what to make of his son but who changes his mind once he sees Christy writing with his left foot. “Genius!” he declares and it brings tears to the eyes of everyone watching.

My Left Foot was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. Oliver Stone won Best Director for a much more grandiose portrait of disability, Born On The Fourth Of July. Best Picture, meanwhile, went to Driving Miss Daisy.

A horror film from Great Britain came out in 2002 starring Jamie Bell (from Billy Elliott) and Andy Serkis. This was a film which went under the radar of most people, but not horror fans who tend to pick up on little gems such as Michael J. Bassett’s Deathwatch.

Set during the height of the trench warfare in the Western Front during the First World War, the surviving remnants of a British Infantry company stumble upon a nearly deserted set of German trenches as they exit a fog-shrouded battlefield. Except for a couple of terrified German soldiers, the near-deserted trench only has dead German soldiers. As they spend their first night, it’s more than German soldiers they have to worry about, somewhere within the trenches something that’s hunting them down one by one.

Deathwatch does a good job in mixing in themes of horror and paranoia as the British soldiers and their lone German prisoner must try to figure out just who or what has been hunting them in the trenches since their arrival. Signs of this unknown enemy could be seen in the dead German soldiers piled on to of each other and wrapped in barbed wire. Blood flows freely from within the muddy walls of the trench system though no bodies could be seen within these walls. The film does a great job of creating such a claustrophobic atmosphere for the characters that it’s natural to see their progression from being battle-weary but alert to being paranoid to the point that they begin to hallucinate and, at times, turn on each other.

From the sound of it this film shares some similarity to Carpenter’s The Thing. As more and more of the survivors die, paranoia and suspicion grows amongst the rest as to who or what might be hunting them. The performances by the cast is good though nothing to write home about, but enough to convey the dread and paranoia sweeping through the trench. Jamie Belle as the teen British soldier with a conscience gives a understated performance while on the polar opposite is Andy Serkis scene-chewing his way through the bulk of the film as a soldier with sociopathic tendencies.

Deathwatch was a very good horror-suspense film that made great use of it’s World War I setting and borrowing themes and ideas from similar films. Michael J. Bassett’s direction kept the film moving and the film doesn’t skimp on the gore when it needed it to balance out the scenes of suspense throughout the film. It’s not a great film by any means, but it’s one of those little-known gems that one hears about and won’t be disappointed once they give it a try.