Just think of a storyline where a mentally retarded man becomes a father of a girl child and on the very first day of them returning from the hospital, his wife leaves him standing in the middle of the road holding the few days old little baby in his hands. She leaves him because that’s not the life she wished to live with a retarded husband and his baby. But the man takes it from there and brings up the child in every possible manner he could. He feeds the little baby taking time clues from the TV programmes at the Cartoon channel and raises the girl in a near normal way with his own new self found courage.
Years pass and the little child transforms into an eight year old girl coming at par with the mental age of her own father. Knowing that her father can only think as a child, the girl finds it tough to learn more than her father can. She doesn’t want to grow beyond the age where she leaves her father behind. But life has to move on and she starts accepting the truth she has to live with. However, the destiny has its own plans for them, when the Child Care Council takes the girl away declaring that the father is not capable of looking after her anymore. The matter goes into the court and now SAM (the father) has to fight a case to win his own daughter back, whom he had raised all alone without any help.
That’s the plot of a gem called “I Am Sam”, brilliantly directed by Jessie Nelson and with a mind blowing performance by Sean Penn as the retarded father fighting for the custody of his daughter. In fact the movie has more than one star to write about with Sean Penn leading them all. Sean’s performance is undoubtedly one of the best acts I have seen till date portraying a retarded character with so much love, emotions and pain. He just moves into the body of his character with such an incredible ease which should be considered like a lesson by every young student pursuing acting and cinema as his career.
Along with Sean, the second star of the movie is Dacota Fanning, playing Sean’s young daughter. She is simply superb in her role showing tremendous understanding of the scenes and dialogues she is given in the movie. At such a small age it was indeed a great piece of work presented by the now young lady. The emotional masterpiece has another star act put forward by the group of Sam’s friends who are also retarded characters with a very limited ability to think. Their few scenes with Sam and in the Court Room are very well written, well acted and highly enjoyable. The credit of their notable performances goes to the director and the writers who gave them a soothing presence in the movie as the friendly helping hands of Sam.
And finally the fourth star of the classic is its outstanding Camerawork which realistically captures the tender moments of the movie as required by its theme. The intelligent handheld camera movements, the intense close ups, the fast cuts and the zoom in, zoom outs simply take you into the scene as if you are a part of the real happenings. The superb shot taking style makes you feel the same as the characters on the screen. Especially the well shot sequences in the Court Room where each testimonial contributes its own unique angle to the case. Apart from these, Michelle Pfeiffer as the lawyer and Dianne Wiest as Annie are also just perfect in their sensitive performances, equally contributing in making the movie a touching worth watching emotional experience, not to be missed.
And you are sure going to remember the innocent SAM in the movie, for a long long time.
Directed By Jessie Nelson
Starring : Sean Penn, Dacota Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianne Wiest & more.
