"I AM SAM"

taken from: http://www.iamsammovie.com/

The cast:
Sean Penn , Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning, Dianne Wiest, Loretta Devine

The story:
Sam Dawson is a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy with the help of an extraordinary group of friends. As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their situation comes under the scrutiny of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care. Faced with a seemingly unwinnable case, Sam vows to fight the legal system and forms an unlikely alliance with Rita Harrison, a high-powered, self-absorbed attorney who initially takes his case pro bona as a challenge from her colleagues. On the surface the two couldn't be further apart, but in reality they are subtly similar. Sam's compulsive nature is mirrored in Rita's more socially acceptable obsessive-compulsive nature. Together they struggle to convince the system that Sam deserves to get his daughter back and, in the process, fuse a bond that results in a unique testament to the power of unconditional love.

taken from:
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1807634444

Lesson learnt:
Although i missed out on the beginning part of the show,from the storyline,i gathered that the show revolves around the power of a father's love. It touches upon how despite his mental inadequacy,he still tries to fulfil his duty as a father. Although mentally challenged, Sam went about trying to prove to the court that he was able to take custody of his daughter Lucy. Throughout the show,we saw how the prosecution tried to discredit Sam's ability to look after his beloved daughter by playing up facts like his inability to provide the right environment for his daughter to grow up in as well as to show that as Lucy ages,in time to come,her intellectual capability would soon surpass that of her father's. To overthrow the prosecution's challenges,Sam took up several jobs and even went to the extent of memorising the "model" answers to would-be questions that they would ask in a bid to discredit him. From all these,we can see his resolve in wanting to keep Lucy by his side. The show really went all the way out to show viewers how strong a bond between father and daughter can be. The touching parts of the show occured towards the end when Lucy took to the witness stand and was grilled over the entire matter. Seeing how tormented she was over the questions posed to her,Sam repeatedly requested that the questioning ceased in a bid to protect the well being of his daughter.Along the way,he was advised by many people to give up the fight but the determination of both father and daughter to remain together really touched those involved and in the end,Sam was awarded joint custody of his daughter together with the help of a foster parent. My words alone cannot fully describe the messages that the show is trying to convey but upon watching it,one would be able to realise how powerful a father's love can be and how despite trying times,the bond between father and child would still remain unbroken. It does not take logical thinking for a father to love his child and as seen from the show,even a mentally challenged person can love his own child just as much or even more than what a normal person can. This goes to show the spiritual aspect of a parent's love,that it is not cultivated but rather occurs naturally. That it is something which can never be taught but rather something which comes about with the birth of a child.