Boxwish Blog

My Left Foot voted most inspirational film

Posted by Team Boxwish on 04 November 2008 at 11.36AM

Here’s what we’re talking about – being inspired by movies. Here at Boxwish HQ, we live and breathe films, constantly quoting our favourites and likening incidents in our own lives to those of our silver screen idols. It’s a reference source that never dries up or disappoints, as films continue to touch our lives in all manner of different ways. They can elevate our mood and make us laugh when we’re grumpy or can have us reaching for the Kleenex to mop up tears we didn’t know we had. They can educate, enlighten and provoke us to think about new things in new ways or inspire us to tackle life with a fresh vigour and positivity. And it’s this latter quality that has been celebrated by movie website Moviefone.com.

Editors at the site have compiled their list of the top 25 most inspirational movies, explaining: “Whether it’s a last-ditch Hail Mary pass flung on fourth and long to win the game or a high school maths teacher leading students by his quiet example, movies are at their best when they inspire us.” And for their first prize they’ve selected 1989’s multi-Oscar winning drama My Left Foot, the true-life tale of Christy Brown, an Irishman with cerebral palsy so severe that he could only move his left foot but fought to became a celebrated poet, painter and author. Based on Brown’s autobiography of the same name, the film earned Daniel Day-Lewis his first best actor Academy Award in the part of Brown and also one for Brenda Fricker in the role of his mother.

Second on the list is Edward Zwick’s American civil war drama Glory starring Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington and in the third spot is another tale of physical adversity – this time that of deaf-blind Helen Keller in 1962’s The Miracle Worker. The top five is rounded out by feel-good small-town charm in Frank Capra’s festive favourite It’s a Wonderful Life and Sylvester Stallone taking to the boxing ring in Rocky.

Charting further down the list are Steven Spielberg’s holocaust classic Schindler’s List (6th), post-WW2 ensemble drama The Best Years of Our Lives (7th), working-class struggles for Sally Field in Norma Rae (8th), high school basketball thrills in Hoosiers (9th) and John Ford’s 1940 adaptation of the John Steinbeck Pulitzer Prize-wining The Grapes of Wrath (10th). What – no Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies? It’s a travesty I tell you.

[via The Express]

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Comments (11)

Gabriela Hidalgo and Carlos Islas comment.

We think that this is, indeed, a very inspirational book and the movie also reflects this inspiration very well. For example, in the movie we can see that he writes down the word "Mother" with tremendous efforts, and this is in our opinion more sentimental and meaningful than just writing down the letter 'a'. However, the book is also very amazing, since we can appreciate that it is being written by a person who is not able to move, and the vocabulary, and figurative language that he uses are very advanced. This story is definitely something that should encourage us as young people and why not, also old people, to fight without letting anything to stop us for what we want, but furthermore, for what or who we love.

Posted by carlosislasgabyhidalgo on 24 November 2008 at 12.48AM
I agree, My Left Foot is a very inspirational film; it show us that we can not judge a book by it's cover. Even when the writer and main character is handicapped, he is able to think in a very beautiful and detailed way. This is the reason it can show to young people either they can not live with prejudices and that they will not be able to have a successful life without even trying to figure out what can be our "left food", what really link or connect ourselves with the infinite world.
In the movie and in the book there are some similarities and some differences; for example, the way it is described seems way more poetical in the book than what it actually is seen in the movie; yet, the message still remains.
This story deserves five stars of rating.

Posted by oskarandmontse on 24 November 2008 at 10.06PM
What we think about Christy Brown’s feelings expressed on his book, My Left Foot, is that he talks about self overcoming. As well, demonstrate how some restrictions can be surpassed, for example, his father placing limits in his life all the time. Although, the great spirit of this person helped him to develop his intellectual and art capacities exceeding what was expected from him. The movie was encouraging the audience, to valuate life significance, because it fully details the boundaries that persons like Brown live daily. Also, shows how they suffer mistreatments from the society in general, and how many people discard this type of people, because they think that because they are handicapped they could not triumph in life.
By Jesus Garmendia and Enrique Guerrero

Posted by jesusandenrique on 25 November 2008 at 12.30AM
Ricardo Valdes and Daniel Cabrera

We think that both the book and the film are really inspirational pieces of art. After reading the first chapter of the book and seeing about an hour of the movie we realized that we cannot judge a person my their appearance, also we need to have in mind that every person has the capability of self-improvement and pushing their barriers to the limit. We were very surprised by the fact that the book was written by Christy Brown himself, this shows the amount of effort that he has implemented in his life in order to be able to show the world he is capable of doing whatever his goals are. The part that inspired us the most was the fact that Christy was able to become a writer even when almost every person in his life said he was retarded.

Posted by Ricardo and Daniel on 25 November 2008 at 02.53AM
We think that, both the movie and the novel “My Left foot” are very inspirational, since it demonstrates that, although life might be hard, we should trust in ourselves no matter our limits, in order to succeed. Not only is this story inspiring, but it is also amazing. The details that Christy includes in his writing and the sublime way in which he expresses his ideas are unique. People might think that a person like him would not be able to write such a beautiful work of literature, but Christy, in spite of the paradigmatic thoughts of the society, demonstrates that what matters in a person is what is in the inside and not the outside.

Posted by Manuel&Braulio on 25 November 2008 at 04.03AM
uupps our comment begins exactly like the previous comment D:
Sorry

Posted by Manuel&Braulio on 25 November 2008 at 04.05AM
We think this story is very inspiring. It shows that no matter how hard things go, there is always a way to carry on. And we can see that, in My Left Foot , this man and his family fought together against many difficult things they had to face. Christy demonstrated to have a great courage to overcome his physical disability Even though his body was limitated, his mind was in excellent conditions, and he was a smart, sensitive person. We think we can learn a lot from him, because he did not want to be considered as “useless”, so he tried and tried until he accomplished his dreams. Also, it is surprising that he managed to wrote a book and paint only using his left foot.

Posted by EdithandFanny on 25 November 2008 at 04.23AM
We believe that both, the book "My Left Foot" and the movie inspired on it, are really motivational and inspiring because they teach us that no matter what, is always worth fighting for what you want, no matters if the possibilities to achieve it are almost zero. Also they show us that having faith is an important issue in order to help us continue beleiving a miracle could happen, and that we can achieve anything we want to, and finally succeed. This book and movie also show us the importance of a strong family bonds, and that the love of a mother is the pures love of all, and that it is infinite and full of power. Here we can also see how a mother is always there for her child, and that a mother's faith on her kids would last forever. We really liked, both the book and the movie, and we were impressed by the strength of wiil of Christy Brown and his mother.

- Tity and Valeria :)

Posted by Tity and Valeria on 25 November 2008 at 04.41AM
We consider this story to be very inspiring for people in a vast number of situations. It shows that everyone is capable of achieving great things if determination is combined with perseverance as this is the formula to success. If you really want to get something and you do everything you can to reach that goal, then you will eventually get it, if you are perseverant enough just like this story shows. Today´s society takes as a given health and other very important parts of our lives, but it´s not really like this. There are people who have to fight not only to get what they want, but to overcome physical barriers that most of us do not even consider. We think this story is a very good example of what can be done with will and courage and we should do the same as “Christy” and fight for what we want. This way, we will eventually get anything we desire.

--- We also thought that the director of the movie might have tried a little too much to impress the audience since the effort made by little christy (in the movie) was not described as shown in the biography.

Posted by mario y ale on 25 November 2008 at 06.47AM
We consider that Christie Brown writes “My Left Foot” to let people know about his experiences to show others what he was able to do, to motivate people to keep on and be perseverant, and to transmit to others the marvelous things beyond the simple details of life.
What impacted us the most, is the strong influence that the family bonds exerted in Christie, especially his mom’s support, love, tenderness, hope, and patience.
Also, we feel faithful and with self-confidence, because we have realized that we can accomplish any goal we set if we are perseverant.
We also think that both the movie and the book are very sensitive and let the audience to realize that everything is possible if you try, that doesn’t matter how hard the circumstances are with the support of your loved ones you can reach the top and success in your goals.

Karla and Sylvia

Posted by mrs.cullen on 25 November 2008 at 02.57PM