The majority of I Am Sam explores Sam and his relationships with others, particularly with Lucy. Despite the fact that Lucy surpasses him in intelligence, and that people fear she needs parents that can provide her with more guidance, Sam proves his competence as a loving father that has her best interests in mind. His love is conveyed through multiple camera shots of the two spending time together. As a baby, he takes her to work with him and, as she grows older, he takes her to the park and to IHOP. They play together, laugh together, read together, and talks of the world around them. One particularly notable tracking shot captures the two swinging together at the park. The camera swings along with them, sometimes zooming in on Sam’s overjoyed face. Although the shot is simple, it demonstrates how much Sam enjoys spending time with Lucy and how happy she makes him. Although Sam is mentally challenged, he has no trouble expressing his love for his daughter.

Sam also proving himself loving in his relationship with his lawyer, Rita Harrison. Although outwardly Rita appears to be bold and determined, on the inside she is very fragile and hurting. Her husband is cheating on her, her son displays a great deal of anger towards her, and she feels pressured by her colleagues to be perfect. Sam and Rita are an ideal match for one another. Rita needs Sam because he looks up to her and makes her feel like she is not a failure. In turn, Sam needs Rita to prevent him from giving up in his battle to keep Lucy in his life. In one particularly pivotal scene, Rita pours her heart out to Sam through a powerful monologue about how catastrophic her life is and how she feels like she fails at everything. During Rita’s speech, the camera oscillates between Rita and Sam, simultaneously capturing Rita’s feelings of failure and Sam’s sympathy for her. At the end of the scene, there is a long shot of the two hugging, capturing the essence of their relationship.

Sam has a close group of friends who support him emotionally, even financially, throughout his struggle to regain custody of Lucy. This group is made up of Ifty, Robert, Brad, and Joe. Ifty has serious attention deficit disorder. Doug Hutchinson, the actor that plays Ifty, describes him on the official I Am Sam as exhibiting a personality that is “is a marriage between mania and having a certain centeredness and stillness within the chaos.” Robert is the “overprotective” figure of the group, and displays characteristics of paranoia. Brad and Joe are mentally challenged like Sam, and are actually played by actors with real mental disabilities, Joseph Rosenberg and Brad Allan Silverman. These two actors are helpful to Sean Penn in his acting job of portraying a mentally challenged man because they provide authentic examples of the mentally disabled in social relationships. Director Jessie Nelson establishes Sam’s relationship with these men by showing how much they care about him. When Sam is buying Lucy new shoes for school, he does not have enough money to pay for them and his friends all contribute to the cost. Similarly, in court, his friends are present every day, and hold up signs that say “Free Lucy Dawson.” Their simple acts of love demonstrate that intelligence has no effect on the ability to establish and maintain a caring relationship. This is an accurate portrayal of mentally challenged people because most have friends and loved ones despite their disabilities.

Nelson employs various technical elements to describe Sam’s job experiences. The opening scene shows him working in a Starbucks Coffee Shop organizing sugar trays and cups, cleaning up, and delivering coffee to people at the tables. The camera focuses on his hands as he cleans and organizes, emphasizing the simplicity of the tasks he is performing. Although Sam later tries to undertake a job making coffee, he has a hard time remembering coffee orders, is clumsy, and makes a mess. Nelson employs frantic music during this scene to underscore Sam’s confusion and inability to perform the job. Sam eventually quits the Starbucks job because there are too many people, showing that some mentally challenged people have problems concentrating and functioning in busy places. He next takes care of dogs, washing, feeding, and walking them. Although it is comical to see him walking down the street with several dogs pulling him, he appears to handle this job quite well. At the end of the movie, he is working at a Pizza Hut and carries out similar tasks to his job at Starbucks. Again the camera focuses on his hands to stress simplicity as he organizes pizza sauces and puts parmesan cheese on the tables. Nelson’s emphasis on the relative easiness of Sam’s chosen occupations suggests that mentally disabled people face challenges in the work force because they are not capable of performing highly demanding jobs due to their abnormally low IQ.

Sam ultimately loses the trial in which he tries to win Lucy back from the state. Sadly, mentally challenged individuals often face disappointment. The three authors of Personality Development In Individuals With Mental Retardation (1999) argue that “As attempts to complete tasks correctly result in failure, the expectation of success is gradually extinguished. The main motivation then becomes to avoid failure rather than to achieve success” (130). Although Sam has experienced many failures during his lifetime (his girlfriend leaves him, he cannot handle demanding jobs, and he loses Lucy), he does not give up. In fact, at one point during the movie he tells Lucy, “Always set your dreams high.” His love for Lucy, his highly motivated lawyer, and his close group of supportive friends keep him from giving up in his battle and make him a stronger person. Although he is not successful at regaining custody, he is still able to spend time with his beloved daughter and is happy. In this respect, Sam leads a successful life. The end of the movie provides hope for Sam. In the closing scene, Sam is refereeing Lucy’s soccer game. She scores a goal and he picks her up and runs with her. There is a tracking shot of Sam running which ends at a high angle. Joyful music plays in the background. T he camera shots and accompanying music reassure viewers that Sam and Lucy will always be close because they truly love one another. Through Sam’s positive outlook on life, Nelson conveys the message that mentally challenged people can be happy and overcome their obstacles.

I Am Sam, then, is highly effective at presenting a mentally challenged man and his daily struggles. Penn’s phenomenal acting skills leave no room for doubt that the character he is portraying is mentally retarded. The ingenious directing and camera work allow audience members to connect more deeply to Sam so that they can understand his feelings and share in his experiences. I Am Sam is not only an enjoyable movie for everyone, but is an important educational tool for people without disabilities. It teaches us what it is like to be mentally challenged.

by Elizabeth Cook (UNC-CH)