a noted cinematic phenomenon of the late eighty and early ninety be the number of oscar which go to actor play character who be either physically or mentally handicap . the first be marlee matlin award for child of a less god in 1986 and and the next ten year be to see another best actress award ( holly hunter for the piano in 1994 ) and no few than five best actor award ( dustin hoffman in 1988 for rain man and daniel day lewis in 1989 for my left foot and al pacino in 1992 for scent of a woman and tom hank in 1994 for forrest gump and geoffrey rush in 1996 for shine ) for portrayal of the disabled . matlin and who play a deaf woman and be herself deaf and but all the others be able body . this phenomenon arouse some adverse comment at the time and with suggestion be make that these award be give more for political correctness than for the quality of the acting . when jodie foster fail to win best actress for nell in 1994 some people saw this a evidence of a backlash against this sort of portrayal . my view and however and be that the majority of these award be well deserve . i think the 1992 award should have go to either clint eastwood or robert downey rather than pacino and but apart from that the only one with which i disagree would have be hank and and that be because i prefer nigel hawthorne performance in the madness of king george . in that film and of course and hawthorne play a character who be mentally ill. my left foot be base upon the autobiography of the irish writer and painter christy brown . brown be bear in 1931 and one of the thirteen child of a working class dublin family . he be bear with cerebral palsy and be at first wrongly think to be mentally handicap as well . he be for a long time incapable of deliberate movement or speech and but eventually discover that he could control the movement of one part of his body and his left foot ( hence the title ) . he learn to write and draw by hold a piece of chalk between his toe and and go on to become a painter and a publish novelist and poet . life in work class dublin in the thirty and forty could be hard and and the city jim sheridan ( himself a dubliner ) show u here be in many way a grim and grey and cheerless place and very different from our normal idea of the emerald isle . ( sheridan and day lewis be later to collaborate on another film with an irish theme and in the name of the father ) . against this and however and must be set the cheerfulness and spirit of it people and especially the brown family . much of christy success be due to the support he receive from his parent and who refuse to allow him to be institutionalise and always believe in the intelligence hidden beneath a cripple exterior and and from his sibling . we see how his brother use to wheel him round in a specially make cart and how they help their bricklayer father to build christy a room of his own in their back yard . the film could easily have slide into sentimentality and end up as just another heart warm triumph over adversity movie . that it do not be due to a number of factor and principally the magnificent acting . in the course of his career and day lewis have give a number of fine performance and but this and together with the recent there will be blood and be his best . he be never less than 100 % convincing a christie while his tortured and jerky movement and strain attempt at speech persuade u that we really be watch a disabled person and even though and intellectually and we be well aware that day lewis be able body . the other performance which stand out be from fiona shaw a his mentor dr eileen cole and from hugh oconor a the young christy and from brenda fricker a christy mother ( which win her the best support actress award ) . the other reason why the film escape sentimentality be that it do not try to sentimentalise it main character . christy brown have a difficult life and but he could also be difficult to live with and and the film give u a wart and all portrait . he be a heavy drinker and give to foul language and prone to outburst of rage . he could also be selfish and manipulative of those around him and and the film show u all these aspect of his character . of course and it also show u the positive aspect his courage and his determination and his wicked sense of humour . day lewis act be not just physically convince and in that it persuade u to believe in his character disability and but also emotionally and intellectually convincing and in that it bring out all these different facet of christy character . his oscar be win in the teeth of some very strong opposition from the like of robin williams and kenneth branagh and but it be well deserve . positive .