"I Am Sam": Wealth Doesn't Guarantee a Quality Life
The movie I Am Sam is about Sam Dawson (played by Sean Penn), who has the IQ of a 7-year-old and yet is a caring single father to his 6-year-old daughter, Lucy.
To provide for their physical needs, Sam works at a local Starbucks as a busboy. But when Lucy turns seven, authorities take her from Sam because they doubt he has the ability to continue parenting Lucy.
Desperate to regain custody, Sam solicits pro bono help from a prestigious Los Angeles lawyer named Rita Harrison (played by Michelle Pfeiffer). This attorney is self-sufficient and successful. She owns a Porsche, a designer wardrobe, and a 6,000-square-foot mansion. However, as Sam spends time with her, he discovers her marriage is all but dead and her relationship with her son (because of her workaholism) is a far cry from what he has with Lucy.
When Sam fails to show up for a custody hearing, Rita stops by his apartment to find out what's wrong. She pounds on the door and calls to him, but there is no answer. Convinced he is there, she kicks the door down and sees Sam hiding behind a wall constructed out of folded cubes of newspaper. Sam is in despair because Lucy seems content with her foster parents.
The lawyer speaks from her side of the makeshift wall. "I can go at least another nine rounds, but you've got to let me in."
Sam peeks through the webbing of the wall, and their eyes meet. His words betray a broken heart. "Lucy doesn't need me anymore. She has a new family now. She doesn't need me anymore."
"Is that what she said?" the lawyer asks.
"I just know that," he insists.
"Well, that's the first stupid thing I have ever heard you say," she counters.
That comment arrests his attention, because he is sensitive about the fact he is often thought stupid.
"Sam, you can get Lucy back. The court favors reunification. But Sam, you have got to fight for her."
He stands up and begins to pace the room. "I tried. I tried hard."
"Then try harder," Rita challenges.
Sam interrupts, "You don't know "
"I don't know what?"
"You don't know what it's like when you try and you try and you try, and you don't ever get there. Because you were born perfect, and I was born like this."
"Oh, is that right?"
"Yeah. People like you don't know what it's like to be hurted. People like you don't feel anything."
The lawyer, whose husband is cheating on her and who has an empty life in spite of her successful career and wealth, has heard enough. She tears down the newspaper wall and walks up to Sam.
"You think you have the market cornered on human suffering?" She begins to cry. "Let me tell you something about people like me. People like me feel lost and little and ugly and dispensable."
Warning: A profanity follows this scene.
Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credit, this scene begins at 1:40:33 and lasts about 90 seconds.
Content: I Am Sam is rated PG-13 for language.
I Am Sam (New Line Cinema, 2001), rated PG-13, written by Kristine Johnson and Jessie Nelson, directed by Jessie Nelson; submitted by Greg Asimakoupoulos, Naperville, Illinois
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