I Am Sam

3 Pages 691 Words

I am Sam
I am Sam is a film about a gentleman with Mental Retardation and autistic tendencies who impregnates a homeless female. After delivering the baby, she leaves Sam and the baby, a little girl name Lucy, alone. Sam begins to raise Lucy, with the help of his neighbor and friends. When Lucy turns seven, a social worker begins to worry that since Lucy’s IQ is higher than Sam’s that he is not capable of raising her and insists on her being placed in foster care. Sam promises to fight the battle and win Lucy back, and eventually, a selfish chaotic lawyer named Rita Harrison takes on his case. Sam and Rita struggle to convince the judge that Sam deserves to be able to raise Lucy and is capable.
Sam has a few very close friends with disabilities also. Sam’s best friend, Ifty, has severe attention deficit disorder. Robert, another one of Sam’s friends, is over protective and overly paranoid. I am Sam also has two actors, which play roles of Sam’s friends, who really do have disabilities.
Lucy is well aware of her dad’s disability, but seems to be confused by it asking, "Daddy, did God mean for you to be like this, or was it an accident?” She knows her friends think her dad is weird or different. She also is aware that she is becoming smarter than her dad. But she is proud of the fact that her dad does things with her that other children’s dads do not- such as playing at the park with her.
Sam’s disability definitely affected the way Lucy was being raised, but not necessarily in a bad way. Lucy was raised simply by love. She didn’t know the hustle and bustle that most parents have to endure while raising a child. She had more love in her life than other kids. He is so determined to win Lucy back because he does not know better. He’s not willing to give up because he isn’t easily discouraged. But yet he knows what’s going on. “You think what they think,” is a comment Sam said to ...