My Left Foot 4

book and also talking to people of that generation. I think
he could have made it even more poor looking, you know,
because they were very, very poor. You know, with that
number of children. 
fii
What do you think about the representation of disability in the
film? 
B I can’t really answer that except for myself. Like
everything you learn, your own ignorance is corrected,
or your own fears are calmed down a bit. 

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fii
The fact that Christy’s mother believed in him, in spite of having
absolutely no help from the state, it was all entirely her own
motivation, wasn’t it?
B Yes, I think that’s very important. Daniel and myself made
an unspoken pact before we started filming (I think Jim
was in on it as well) that the mother and son would have
absolutely no sentimentality, no hugging, no little soft
looks to each other because the love was just too strong,
it was much deeper than that. The only time I touched
him was to help him on with some of his clothes, when it
was physically necessary to touch him. And I think that
proved very strong. Particularly when he hands me the
box of money. Somebody suggested I hug him or he hug
me and Daniel and I just shrank back and said ‘No the
love is deeper, it doesn’t need that’. I think that worked
very much in the film. 
fii
My final question, one that everyone will want to know: where
do you keep the Oscar? (
Brenda Fricker won Best Supporting
Actress in 1989 for her performance as Christy’s Mother
) 
B: At this moment in time its down in Oughterard, carefully
snuggled up in a linen cupboard belonging to a friend of