Film Review:
I Am Sam
I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn, is a film that came out in 2001. Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally handicapped man, is single-handedly raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning), whom he fathered from a homeless woman who wants nothing to do with Sam or the baby and leaves them a few days after Lucy is born. Sam is left to raise Lucy on his own and, with a little help from his neighbor Annie who babysits Lucy, Sam creates a loving home. However, throughout the film we are reminded that Sam has a mental age of a seven year old and his daughter soon begins to surpass her father’s mental capacity, Lucy’s school begins to worry what will happen as Lucy gets older and continues to become more advanced then her father, so they call Child Protective Services. Lucy is put into Child Protective Services, and it is up to the court to evaluate and decide if he will be able to raise Lucy. Sam meets lawyer Rita Harrison, who at first dismisses the case and Sam, but eventually takes it to proof to her co-workers that she is not heartless and cold. Rita has her own problems as well, she has a marriage that is falling apart and a son who hates her. The custody battle starts off bumpy but, then seems like they could actually win, that is until Sam is put on the stand and the lawyer convinces him that Lucy deserves more then he can give her, Sam breaks down and loses the case. Lucy is put in a foster home with a family who is looking to adopt her.