“I am Sam” is a story of a mentally challenged man fighting for the custody of his daughter, Lucy. Sam had a child with a homeless woman, who left him alone, to raise his daughter. Eventually, the state took away Lucy from her mentally challenged father and placed her in a foster home. The state argued that Sam was ill equipped to raise and nurture his daughter. Sam decided to fight back in hopes of regaining custody of Lucy. He approached an accomplished lawyer Rita, who at first dismissed Sam but eventually offered to represent Sam free of charge. Rita is a very busy woman who struggled with balancing her family and her career. However, Rita had a change of heart and decided to put her full fledge effort into this case. Sam and Rita decided
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Throughout the movie, Sam found himself involved in criminal activity. Sam got arrested for “ having relations with a prostitute”. However, in reality, Sam was not aware nor had any inclination that he was speaking to a prostitute. Additionally, Sam kidnapped his child Lucy from a social worker as Lucy tricked her father into taking her to the park. Of course, Lucy lied about the situation, but Sam did not have the proper tools to identify the lie, which landed Sam in a precarious situation. Unfortunately, many individuals who suffer from mental retardation are involved in crime. According, to the website Human Rights Watch, as many as two to ten percent of the mentally challenge community are incarcerated in prison. Some suggest that this statistic could be a result of poor impulse control and lack of intellectual skills – symptoms of the mentally challenged. Overall, the creators of this movie did a fantastic job of communicating the struggles of this community and their relationship with …show more content…
For instance, Sam and his friends yelled out during the midst of the trial. Normally, one would understand basic social cues such as, being silent while court is in session. However, individuals who are mentally challenged do not typically pick up on these social cues, which were accurately illustrated in “ I am Sam”. A common misconception about individuals, who are mentally challenge, is that they are always happy. However, Sam is portrayed with different emotions. For instance, Sam is shown anxious, angry, happy, and sad throughout the movie. “ I am Sam” accurately portrays that the mentally challenged have a broad range of emotions. Moreover, “I am Sam” portrays that even though Sam has a disability he is just like everyone else. Sam was able to keep a job, communicate, shop, transport himself, and love and care for his child. Although this movie displays characteristics of the mentally challenged, the movie also illustrates the broad similarities between Sam and the “average” person. Over 3 million people in the United States suffer from mental retardation and many of those are somewhat functioning (even if on a low level) like
Throughout the movie, Sam found himself involved in criminal activity. Sam got arrested for “ having relations with a prostitute”. However, in reality, Sam was not aware nor had any inclination that he was speaking to a prostitute. Additionally, Sam kidnapped his child Lucy from a social worker as Lucy tricked her father into taking her to the park. Of course, Lucy lied about the situation, but Sam did not have the proper tools to identify the lie, which landed Sam in a precarious situation. Unfortunately, many individuals who suffer from mental retardation are involved in crime. According, to the website Human Rights Watch, as many as two to ten percent of the mentally challenge community are incarcerated in prison. Some suggest that this statistic could be a result of poor impulse control and lack of intellectual skills – symptoms of the mentally challenged. Overall, the creators of this movie did a fantastic job of communicating the struggles of this community and their relationship with …show more content…
For instance, Sam and his friends yelled out during the midst of the trial. Normally, one would understand basic social cues such as, being silent while court is in session. However, individuals who are mentally challenged do not typically pick up on these social cues, which were accurately illustrated in “ I am Sam”. A common misconception about individuals, who are mentally challenge, is that they are always happy. However, Sam is portrayed with different emotions. For instance, Sam is shown anxious, angry, happy, and sad throughout the movie. “ I am Sam” accurately portrays that the mentally challenged have a broad range of emotions. Moreover, “I am Sam” portrays that even though Sam has a disability he is just like everyone else. Sam was able to keep a job, communicate, shop, transport himself, and love and care for his child. Although this movie displays characteristics of the mentally challenged, the movie also illustrates the broad similarities between Sam and the “average” person. Over 3 million people in the United States suffer from mental retardation and many of those are somewhat functioning (even if on a low level) like