Film Analysis: I Am Sam

For this assignment, I watched the movie “I Am Sam”, starring Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning. Sam, the main character, is an adult male who has high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Although, in the movie, it is only mentioned once that he “has autism-like characteristics and the intellect of a seven-year-old,” it is clear that this is the disorder that Sam has. Autism spectrum disorder is defined as “a group of complex disorders of brain development...characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors,” (autismspeaks.org).
Sam does well, despite his disorder, and manages to live on his own and hold a job at Starbucks as a busboy. Very early in the movie, it is brought to our attention that Sam had previous relations with a homeless woman (whom he let stay in his apartment for some time) and she was pregnant. We see Sam rush to the hospital and watch as his baby girl is born; it’s very clear that Sam understands she is his daughter, and that he needs to take care of her. The woman runs away as soon as they leave the hospital, and Sam is left alone with his daughter, who he names Lucy Diamond (after the Beatles song). Throughout the movie, we see Lucy grow up, and watch her struggles in school as she gets intellectually older than …show more content…
Since Sam works at Starbucks and owns his own apartment, he doesn’t have much money to spare, nor was he a good case to fight for, so he has trouble finding a good lawyer. He finally meets a famous lawyer, who decides to work for Sam pro bono, but only because she wants the good publicity. After many hours in court and long nights rehearsing what to say on the stand, the lawyer and Sam finally win Lucy back. Throughout the process, Sam helps the lawyer realize some wrongs in her life, and changes her life for the better. This is an example of Sam’s direct impact on his