sddavis63 Review of Rory O'Shea Was Here

Rory O'Shea Was Here (2004)

Great Performances In A Movie Both Inspiring And Sometimes Downcast

[6/10 · 24 March 2009]

I want to love this movie - I mean really love it. I really do. But I didn't. There was something about it that just kept me from making the move from thinking this was pretty good to actually loving it. The strong points are obvious: the acting of James McAvoy as Rory and Steven Robertson as Michael. They were absolutely convincing as young men who suffered from quadraplegia and cerebral palsy respectively. In fact, it's difficult to believe that they really aren't disabled - particularly Robertson, whose performance I thought was the better of the two, but not by much. The story is both inspiring and, in the end, a bit downcast. Rory is the young man who yearns for independence from his condition and who hates being institutionalized, while Michael is the one who passively accepts the institution as his world. When the two come together, everything changes. They develop a fast friendship, and yet it's also obvious that Rory is using Michael to "spring" himself. In the end, the great irony is that Rory, who wanted out of the institution, dies institutionalized (in a hospital) while Michael, who was content (although perhaps not happy) in an institution is able to celebrate the freedom that he only has because of Rory. You spend the entire movie rooting for these two to overcome the odds. Somehow, though, and for some reason, the movie still failed to fully draw me in.