The movie spans most of Brown’s life, from a childhood where he lives near-poverty with his father, who is initially ambivalent and somewhat ashamed of his disabled son, and his mother, who unlike other members of the Brown family and their physicians, believes that her nonverbal son is intelligent and aware of his surroundings. Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis and Brenda FrickerĪccolades: Received two Academy Awards nominated for five Growing up in the 1940s and 50s, Brown was finding his footing during a time when people with physical disabilities had few options in terms of treatment, and often endured a social stigma.īorn to a near-destitute family in working-class Dublin that included a supportive mother and an initially-dismissive father, Christy Brown used the one part of his body that functioned properly to craft legendary books that would garner a worldwide following.īased on: Autobiography by Christy Brown, 1954 The film adaptation of “My Left Foot” lays bare the trials and tribulations of Brown’s life, many of which were caused by his nearly-complete quadriplegia due to Cerebral Palsy. The movie was an unexpected hit, and it led to the rediscovery of Brown’s work by a new generation of readers.

That book was called “My Left Foot,” and in 1989, it was made into a film of the same name starring Daniel Day Lewis in the eponymous role. It was his condition that drove Brown, who was diagnosed with severe spastic Cerebral Palsy shortly after his birth in 1932, to write an autobiographical tome in 1954 that covers his life from humble beginnings in Dublin flat with his parents, Bridget and Paddy, and 12 siblings, to his struggle to train the only part of his body that worked – a foot – to write, paint and inspire the literary world. “My Left Foot” explores the genius of Irish author Christy BrownĬhristy Brown was one of the 20th Century’s most unique voices he was a writer and an artist that pushed past his own physical limits to leave a compelling legacy that extends well beyond his native Dublin.

The film my left foot