Preview

"I Am Sam" Film Response

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
999 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"I Am Sam" Film Response
I Am Sam is a movie of many themes and ideas. To express these themes and ideas many film techniques are used to help the viewer interpret different scenes in a manner that the director wants. Some techniques include camera angles, music, colour, lighting and characterisation. Characterisation uses a variety of other film techniques, such as camera angles, music and lighting, to help the viewer empathise, sympathise and understand different characters. It is used widely throughout I Am Sam, mainly to characterise the main character of the film, Sam.
Everyone has faced problems that seem overwhelming at some point in their life. Sam was no different. Life was already hard for him because of his autism, but when a chain of events left him holding Lucy and watching Rebecca as she disappeared into the crowd, Sam was left alone and confused. To help the viewers sympathise or empathise with Sam, the camera was set level with Sam’s face as he looked around, lost. The camera then switches to a position above Sam focussing on the signs ‘One Way’ and ‘No turning back’. These signs symbolise the path that Sam is now forced to take: raising Lucy on his own.
Another scene in which Sam is seemingly overwhelmed with the task of raising Lucy alone is in the shopping centre. He was holding a crying Lucy and looking for nappies and talcum powder, but there were so many choices. The camera swept from one end of the seemingly endless aisle to the other, alluding to the immense task of raising Lucy alone. To further portray Sam’s feelings of inadequacy, the camera shows Sam spinning around and around, faster and faster, and then freezes on his distorted and stretched face. This helps the viewer see the stress and strain Sam is under, that raising Lucy alone is stretching Sam to beyond his limits. Although the task was overwhelming, Sam never considered giving Lucy up or ever thought that she would be taken away from him.
Most people know how it feels to lose someone or something

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    With the upcoming arrival, Sam astonishingly surrendered and permitted them to close the business for half of the day so the boys could meet their family at the airport. This was an astronomical gesture as it was the first time in five years that the restaurant would be closed. Due to Sam’s extreme stinginess his sons were forced to share an ugly and tattered black wool winter coat. This posed a substantial problem with their upcoming trip to the airport as it was an extremely cold winter. Knowing they needed Sam’s approval for such a considerable purchase they pondered how they could ever convince their prudent father to splurge for this much needed item. With a friend, the boys concocted a plan. Deciding timing was crucial they agreed it was best that they approach Sam Sing with their proposition when he was feeling…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    hhhgddk ejkr

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages

    7. Describe Sam as a child? What secret of his mother’s does he eventually discover?…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jeni Stepanek share in this book “The Messenger” how intimate and inspiring her son’s life is. When Mattie was born with his disorder, Jeni was advised to let nature take its course to his son. She didn’t agree with that, but instead she supported her son. She let her son share his hardships into a worldwide message of peace and hope. But still Mattie had to fight with his disease, to his mother’s disability and to the death of his 3 older siblings because of the same disease of his.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    She tries to understand what she’s learning but she just can’t. Samantha’s parents put her in therapy but it doesn't help. She has no idea why this is happening until she gets diagnosed with a learning…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sam grew up well before his time, making up for the work his father never did for the family. He worked until he couldn’t stand and then started over the next day. He was…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jessie Nelson’s ‘I am Sam’ directed in 2001 tells a story of a mentally-challenged man, Sam Dawson, and his relentless fight with the legal system for custody of his daughter, Lucy Diamond Dawson. Nelson forces the audience to question Sam’s capabilities and limits of being a ‘good parent’ through symbolism, characterization, use of camera and editing techniques.…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Irony of Sam seen as the ‘unfit’ father due to disability with a loving relationship to daughter: “people worry you’re not smart... no one doubts you love your daughter”…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the book My Brother Sam is Dead, I realized the plot of the book wasn’t what I expected. Judging by the title, you’d think the book is about a guy named Sam, but it’s really about his brother, Tim. The story takes place during a period of war, and Tim, as the narrator, has to witness his father and brother disagree over which side they are on, the Loyalists or the Rebels. Disobeying his father, Sam goes to war to fight the Loyalists, and Tim is stuck at home worried about his brother, but also admires his brother for his bravery. The war had a huge effect on Tim’s personality. As the book goes on, Tim grows up due to the situations war put him through. Tim has grown up immensely throughout the book by gaining responsibilities,…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sam stood in front of an older ordinary building with an old wooden door. There wasn’t an address, just a symbol that signified he was in the right place.…

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Families are torn apart because of war. Sam and Mr. Meeker, come to a huge disagreement whether Sam should join the war or not. This makes Mr. Meeker so frustrated that he kicks out Sam. ‘Go, Sam. Go. Get out…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Does Sam Become A Man

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “You can't order me anymore, Father. I'm a man.” In the book My Brother Sam is dead, you can tell that two people are growing up. Sam comes home from college and goes to war. Sam is brave enough to go to war and fight. Tim has also grown up after he brings home the wagon by himself without his father. Tim takes charge by becoming the man of the house. He takes charge because his father and Sam are both gone.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Autobiography of a Face

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Lucy Grealy tells a story about not fitting in, unbearable pain that takes up residence in one's head as loneliness and confusion, questioning what things mean, being scared and lost in your family, enduring intense physical pain, and most importantly, figuring out who you are. Lucy had no idea she might die, even though the survival rate for Ewing's sarcoma was only five percent. She does not present her parents as overly afraid for her life, either. Her autobiography is not a story about the fear of death, but about such courage and anguish. Lucy shows how she falls under the spell of her disability, allowing it to control her life and dictate her future to a greater extent than it would otherwise. Having a disability means that sometimes you have to say "I'm disabled, therefore I can't...", but as Lucy finally learns, it also means sometimes saying "I'm disabled, but I can!" Through her traumatic tale of misfortune, she has sifted out truths about beauty, the public, and self-concept.…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sam Winchester Monologue

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    You expected Sam Winchester to taste like coffee and peppermint. The coffee was obvious, there was rarely a day that he went without at least one cup, usually it was a lot more than one. Dean joked that it was the only unhealthy thing that Sam did regularly. The peppermint came from the mints he would pop between cups, the sweet sent clinging to his breath long after the little candy has disintegrated. When you weren’t really thinking about it, you would watch the little white mints disintegrate on his tongue while he spoke. The smell faint in the air with every breath he took.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I loved the film See What I’m Saying; it was filled with new insights about deaf culture and people. This movie follows the life of TL Forsber, singer; Bob Hiltermann, drummer; Robert DeMayo, actor; and CJ Jones, A Deaf Icon. Once I got home from school, I quickly checked Netflix to see if Netflix carries it. My hopes were crushed. There were not many things about the film I did not like, are how hearing people treated deaf people and what troubles follow four deaf entertainers; a comic, drummer, actor and a singer as they attempt to cross over to mainstream audiences. An example is when a deaf man was looking for apartments in his price range he had to use this video chat and the landlord just hung up on him when the interrupter asked the landlord if they have used one of these video chats. I could not believe it the landlord just hung up. Another example, it is hard enough for hearing people to make it in the acting world, so it must be even hard for deaf people and an African American deaf person too and Robert’s interview about his last interactions with his mom using an interpreter.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Whilst watching the film, it becomes extremely hard to make a decision between whether making a wordless film or attracting numerous audiences is a bigger accomplishment. It is amazing that the audience fails to realize the film’s male protagonist during the entire movie. The setting of the movie is in the arid Aboriginal outback. Being a motion picture, Samson and Delilah is remarkably restrained, but with a rich impact (Sluis, 2010). In the opening scenes Warwick Thornton, the first-time feature director, sets the routine of the two principal characters. Delilah (Marissa Gibson), residing in a small Aboriginal town, dedicates much of her time looking after her Nana, who has grown old. She feeds her with medication, works on complex dot paintings and accompanies her to the church. Samson (Rowan McNamara) is the antagonistic and aimless character, and he huffs paints every morning. Since he does not have much work to do, he keeps on shadowing Delilah as she does her routine duties (Sluis, 2010). The scenes are excellent because they portray the sense of observations as well as Warwick’s talent as a documentaries cinematographer. His liberal utilization of the deliberate shadows makes the audience to figure the characters out.…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays