Don’t write off My Left Foot as just another disease-of-the-week weeper. This powerful Irish film is a brutally honest, stunningly executed examination of all the little humiliations cerebral palsy victims face every day, and the limited, but magnificent victory achieved by Christy Brown. He wrote books with the only part of his body over which he could exercise normal control: his left foot.
Daniel Day Lewis (A Room with a View) is one of Britain’s most accomplished young actors. To research the role of Brown he lived and worked for eight weeks in a hospital for cerebral palsy patients. On the set, he lived in his wheelchair, eating only when others fed him. The result is a believable, deeply empathetic cerebral palsy sufferer. Hugh O’Connor’s portrayal of Christy as a child is nothing short of brilliant.
Christy Brown’s limbs and face are contorted, his every utterance is a triumph of the will. We cringe as adults belittle him to his face. We weep when his bewildered mother tells him, “We can’t understand you, Christy, but God can.” When he finally makes his intelligence known, we rejoice with his ecstatic father.
Christy Brown went on to write five books—novels, poetry, and the autobiography upon which the film is based—as a fully dimensional human being. He curses his affliction and the people who humiliate him. He falls in love, struggles with alcoholism, and emerges as a sinful man, full of dignity, in need of salvation. We come away with a deeper understanding of what it means to be made in the image of God.
By Stefan Ulstein.
ARTBRIEFS
Glasnost Comes to Music
If you understand Russian, or know someone who does, a new recording just released in the U.S. by Integrity Music might interest you. “Heal Our Land” is billed as the first praise and worship recording in the Russian language; it contains ten songs from Integrity’s Hosanna! Music series, including “Give Thanks,” “Lord of All,” “Worthy, You Are Worthy.”
Copies of the master tape were given to church leaders in the Soviet Union for duplication and distribution throughout the country. Evangelist Terry Law took the tapes to a group of church leaders from 19 Soviet republics and reported that “everybody in the room was crying, their hands were in the air, and they were praising the Lord. And when we came to [the song] ‘Heal Our Land,’ … a weeping came over the crowd.”
“Heal Our Land” has been made available in the U.S. because response to it in the USSR was so overwhelming.
Christian Rating Service
Ted Baehr, whose Good News Communications issues Movieguide, a conservative Christian guide to movies and entertainment, has just produced two volumes covering most of the major (and minor) films made for the American viewing public. Published by Wolgemuth & Hyatt, The Christian Family Guide to Movies and Videos rates all movies (and videos) from a four-star excellent (e.g., It’s a Wonderful Life) to no rating: bad—totally without merit (Psycho III)—and offers opinions on how offensive the films are to Christians who would rather not view nudity and violence or hear profanity and false teaching.
Volume 1, coauthored by Baehr, Bruce W. Grimes, and Lisa Ann Rice, contains three chapters that discuss a biblical perspective on movies and precede the reviews, which were culled from four years of Movieguide. If you’re stymied when you visit the video store and wonder which movies are “safe” for your family, you might appreciate Baehr’s efforts. Both volumes are expected to be available in local book stores.
Musicians for Life
The news media and popular press would have the public believe the vast majority of Americans are now prochoice on the abortion issue. Into this arena comes a new recording by a group of contemporary musicians who have joined forces to protest the slaughter of the innocents. The recording “It’s Gotta Stop!” subtitled “Artists Against the Abortion Holocaust,” was produced for the Christian Action Council (CAC) by Diadem Music, and includes the voices of Pat Boone, Phil Keaggy, A.D., Randy Stonehill, Sandy Rios, the late Keith Green, and seven others. All of the artists have agreed to forgo royalties as a benefit to the CAC.
Each song addresses the abortion question directly. Perhaps the most striking cut is Pat Boone’s “Let Me Live”; it describes a dream in which developing children sing a paean to the life that is theirs since they were conceived. All the lyrics are strong, and the music, which is well done by the well known, covers the spectrum of musical styles.
Diadem is marketing the recording to book stores, and CAC expects to offer it as a contribution premium.
By Carol R. Thiessen.
