I Am Sam Analysis

The film I Am Sam evoked quite powerful emotions for me, as the overall plot and characters reminded me of myself and my schizophrenic father. I couldn 't help but cry during quite a few scenes throughout the movie, as they brought back memories of my childhood with my father. The film 's depiction of what parents with disabilities go through with regard to the legal as well as social services system is quite accurate. Lucy is taken away from Sam and put into the foster system, due to the fact that he seemingly has the intellectual capacity of a seven-year-old, is mentally “retarded”, and has autistic tendencies and is therefore deemed incompetent of raising his daughter in a way that will be conducive to her development. It brings into question the true meaning of a “good parent.” By the end of the film, it is shown that money and intellectual capacity have no effect whatsoever on being a good parent. Disability has no effect on how good of a parent one can be, as it merely revolves around love, as proven throughout the movie. Sam 's support system consists of his friends who also have developmental …show more content…
In the movie, Sam was subject to being analyzed based on components that really wouldn 't effect how suitable of a parent he was for Lucy. If he didn 't have “autistic tendencies” or wasn 't “mentally retarded,” he most likely wouldn 't be subject to such critical analysis. When my father was trying to obtain full custody of me, he had to go through such evaluations and analysis and I remember my mom saying that the process wouldn 't have been so lengthy if it weren 't for his mental illness. This film was really moving, as I couldn 't help but underline the parallels that I noticed between Lucy and her dad and my dad and