Do you agree or disagree with the view expressed about the film My Left Foot in the following quote? Give reasons for your answer, using examples from the film to support your answer. " some of his pain is so vivid that a couple of the scenes here are hard to take, as when he must confront a shattering truth in a restaurant. If your heart doesn't go out to him in this scene, you're made of stone."

I agree with the statement made about Christy Brown in the movie My Left Foot.  Daniel Day Lewis, in an impressive depiction of the struggles of Christy Brown, shows the pain of a very bright mind and emotions locked in a very dysfunctional body.  Several scenes show the pain Christy goes through.  One is when he has to blow out the birthday candles on his cake which takes him three tries. The contortions his body must go through to participate in both the birthday party and the neighborhood soccer game where he scores a goal make the audience understand how Christy's pain is both physical and emotional as he tries to participate with a body which won't obey his mind. The impact is most obvious in  the restaurant scene where he realizes that his love for his teacher Eileen is not returned in the way he hopes as she is to marry another man.  He literally speaks aloud in pain with the entire restaurant watching. To put yourself in his place would be to experience the pain of helpless emotion. 

Do you agree or disagree with the view expressed about the film My Left Foot in the following quote? Give reasons for your answer, using examples from the film to support your answer. "He doesn't just portray the ravages of cerebral palsy of his character but the intelligence, humour, courage and love of the man. The main character also is not deemed a saint but allowed to have humanity."

It would have been easy to simply portray Christy as a saint: kind, compassionate, smart, funny, charming, and upbeat about his disability. But Daniel Day Lewis portrays this man with complexity and flaws. Christy wants what others want, wants to have a "normal" life, but when he is confronted with his inability to have them he can get angry and frustrated. Despite his intelligence, his emotional maturity is far from evolved. He becomes infatuated with his teacher (played by Fiona Shaw) and when his crush becomes evident at dinner one night, she reveals that she is engaged to be married. Christy is shocked and hurt, and proceeds to get drunk and acts rude and obnoxious.