My Name Is Sam

I really wanted to like this film but the acting by the adult characters is generally awful. Sam of the title, who plays the father in the movie, is fairly good. And the kids are ok. But other than that it was a bit painful to watch. I ended up jumping forward through the second half of the movie, only stopping at parts that looked interesting.

Curiously, the film is billed as the story of a boy with autism, yet he seemed a minor character to me. Although we hear his interior thought at times in the beginning of the movie, the overall narrative of the film was a jumble. It mostly was about the abuse and bullying the kids received by other "regular" kids in school, and the parents bristling against the rules of a particularly strict Amish sect.

I was hoping to see the autistic boy saved by a the child psychiatrist or even some sense of completion to young Sam's story arc. Maybe I missed it in my jumping forward, but I think that plot line was left hanging.

I have followed this film before it was available to the public and saw the number of awards it received for Best Feature, Editing, and Acting grow higher at every film festival. When we finally got to see it, my family and I laughed and cried as we watched each compelling scene... it was easy to connect with the characters and feel what they were feeling with every moment. The fact that this film is based on a true story adds another captivating element to it. The ending left us wanting more, and we loved the added details about Sam's life. This movie was well worth the wait and one my family and I will watch over and over again!

Anyone who knows any REAL Amish people will see the glaring, external representation. I can understand that Hollywood wouldn't force their actresses to not pluck their eyebrows. But, a women in a strict Amish group would not have hair hanging down around her face.

In addition, in what looks like a church setting, men and women are sitting together. Nope! That would not happen,.

It could have been worse - they could have addressed each other as "Thee" and "Thou", which has been done in other movies about Amish.

Its a film about growing up in the amish community, a place for the few and cosen ones, a place where you shall obey the elders and the rest, or you will burn in the flames of hell. there are also the fact that the earth is flat, or so they say, and that really is a surprise to hear. its a film thats based on true happenings, and some of the issues really unhinged my jaws. its also a film about amish children being bullied for being different, and how school and society reacts and deals with those who have a different style and goal in life.

pruductionwise its a very primitive and amateurishly made movie, with low quality image and sound work, the editing very poor and most of the acting is at low level, there are some flare ups now and then, especially the ocd-kid, does a great job on the neurotic issues, and the fathers revenge on the bullying are just so cool.

its not a good film at all thinks the grumpy old man, for for the curious among us, its a good watch to learn something new

If I were only looking at acting and production quality, this movie would be a 1/10. Most scenes feel like a film student's first year project. They try to make it more authentic by sprinkling German here and there, but it ended up sounding very robotic, especially when the children read out their german lines expressionlessly. All of that stuff is 1/10. BUT...

The movie was strangely interesting to watch. I enjoyed seeing the actors (not the characters) become more confident in their roles as the story progressed. It was kind of fascinating to see the actors develop their skills from beginning to end. The story itself was all over the place. There was so much story in this story that there wasn't much room left for anything else. Trying to follow the little-bit-of-this-little-bit-of-that plot structure was slightly painful. Even so, I gave the movie a 6/10 because I watched it all the way through and that has to be good for something.