I Am Sam (2001)

I Am Sam, a film about a mentally handicapped father trying to win custody of his daughter from the court. It is a great film starting at the artistic and cinematographic level. The angles the director uses are very usual but work well with this film. The cinematography is mostly hand-held cameras. Although the camera work is very shaky but it is not distracting, but it almost seems natural as it mirrors a sense of what it would be like to be Sam. The camera also reflects Sam’s emotions. When Sam becomes agitated so does the camera. The editing is very jumpy and includes many jump shots. The lighting is also thought of to be from Sam’s point of view. In the courtroom everything is lit under a blue light so the scene is flooded in an unnatural way as that what the viewers expect Sam’s perception to be very different from their own.

When comparing this film to Murderball, they both are quite different. Murderball, is a film about people with physical disabilities while I Am Sam features the mental disabled. I feel these two films present the dichotomy of the disabled, people who were born with the disability and those who occurred the disability later on in life. In Murderball we saw how hard it was for these people to overcome their differences in the present time since they were not always disabled. I Am Sam features a variety of characters that were born with mental disabilities. What I think is most important is that both of these groups are shown to be fully capable. These two films create a new genre or subject that is rarely seen in films, but one that is heart touching. I think it is safe to assume that most Americans know of at least 1 person in their family or maybe as friends who suffers from a disability. But why are these not shown much in American film? One of the guys from Murderball said he was living the American Dream. It is one that is quite different than one that is shown in popular film, but to him his life is the American Dream.

I Am Sam is on an underlying look, about parenting and what it takes to be a good parent. Sam is contrasted with Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, Rita. Both of whom are parents. Through the visuals and the scenes the viewer see Sam as a better loving father to his daughter than Rita is a mother to her son. Rita’s role is a very stereotypical one, she is a hard working mother who has to give up something to be so successful, and that is her family. She looses touch with her son, and we soon find out her husband is cheating on her. The contrast of these two is quite remarkable We actually see the Sam is fully capable of being a loving parents despite his disability because so many parents out there who are not disabled fail to meet the needs of their children.