4MyChild: Help and Hope for Life

November 19, 2006

Commercial Movies and Films with Cerebral Palsy as Theme

Using imdb.com’s data base is a snap. If you are not familiar with it, the site catalogues pretty much every movie ever made, including those made for TV and foreign films.

I was able to compile a list of movies with cerebral palsy as part of the over all theme. I have seen most of the films and some of them may not be suitable for young children. For more information, review or user ratings on the film, just click on films title.

Door to Door
(2002) (TV)

Plot Outline: A man with cerebral palsy is determined to become a
salesman

Inside I’m Dancing
(2004)

Plot
Outline: When the kinetic Rory moves into his room in the Carrigmore
Residential Home for the Disabled, his effect on the home is immediate. Most
telling is his friendship with Michael, a young man with cerebral palsy and
nearly unintelligible speech. Somehow, Rory understands Michael, and encourages
him to experience life outside the confines of home.

Adams æbler
(2005)

Plot
Outline: A neo-Nazi sentenced to community service at a church
clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

My Left Foot
(1989)

Plot
Outline: The story of Christy Brown who was born with cerebral
palsy. He learned to paint and write with his only controllable limb – his left
foot.

Gaby: A True
Story (1987)

Plot
Outline: The life of Gaby Brimer, a girl physically handicapped, who
finally gets her goals of study and triumph.

Dance Me to My
Song (1998)

Cousin (1998)

Plot
Outline: Adam tells us the story of an older cousin, who had
cerebral palsy. Adam would go over to play, and they’d dress as superheroes,
jump off the shed, and run about the street with an old shopping trolley. Adam
explains his cousin’s wayward left arm, his strong right one, his aunt’s
understanding of her son’s rages (”bake a cake,” she’d tell him), and
the boy’s love of swimming. On Adam’s eighth birthday, the cousins are separated
by tragedy; it’s left to Adam to wonder about his cousin, and if he still
smells of licorice.

Hell House
(2001)

Plot
Outline: A look at the “Hell House” performed annually in
October by the youth members of Trinity
Church (Assemblies of God) in
Cedar Hill, Texas (a Dallas suburb) – seen by
over 10,000 visitors each year. We see the organization and planning of the
event – including auditions, construction, scripting and rehearsals – largely
through the involvement of one family: a single father with 4 children (one of
whom suffers from cerebral palsy) including his daughter, a cast member.

Storytelling
(2001)

Plot
Outline: Storytelling is comprised of two separate stories set
against the sadly comical terrain of college and high school, past and present.
Following the paths of its young hopeful/troubled characters, it explores
issues of sex, race, celebrity and exploitation

Touched by Love
(1980)

Plot
Outline: A young nurse becomes determined to reach an unresponsive
teenage cerebral palsy patient by encouraging her to write to her favorite rock
singer, Elvis Presley.

The Kid & I
(2005)

Plot
Outline: Bill Williams (Arnold)
is a down-and-out actor who is unexpectedly hired to write a sequel a la
“True Lies,” the action film that made him famous more than a decade
ago. When Bill learns that his co-star is Aaron Roman (Gores), a rich kid with
no acting experience, what appeared to be the chance for a major comeback turns
into a series of outlandish complications. As the duo embark on a journey of
outrageous misadventures, the unlikely pair discover that it takes more courage
to face real life challenges than it does fighting bad guys on the big screen.
Although Aaron may be inexperienced in acting, his tenacious spirit, unwavering
optimism and unconditional friendship turns out to be an important, enduring gift
to Bill.

America’s Heart
and Soul (2004)

Plot
Outline: America
is a vast country, three thousand miles from end to end. But it’s not the land
that makes America
so special, it’s the people. Filmmaker Louis Schwartzberg packed-up his camera
and hit the road, with a goal of capturing both the unparalleled beauty of the
land and the incomparable spirit of the people. He connects with people,
capturing their values, dreams, and passion in a journey that reveals the
stories, unusual, captivating, inspiring and emotional, that make Americans
into something more than a collection of individuals. It’s a celebration of a
nation told through the voices of its people.