Rory O’Shea Was Here | Review

Wheelchair misfits show the true bound of friendship.

From across the pond comes Rory O’Shea an unpretentious little number that counts on the predictable feel-good devices, but avoids the sentimental traps that audiences suffer through with films from the genre. Tackling such issues as isolation, the fight for dignity and independence for the physically disabled, this instant crowd-pleaser from East is East Irish director Damien O’Donnell gives us a pair of characters who can’t move, but gives us a feel-good tale that is emotionally moving.

With a buddy film formula, Jeffrey Caine’s script takes aim at the world of the physically disabled and to an extent, the emotionally enabled. Thanks to a little hair gel and a couple of pints of Guinness, the laughs are genuine and come easy mostly due to the character of Rory (James McAvoy) INSERT – a larger-than life arsehole with muscular dystrophy. While he only has access to the mobility of two fingers you’d think that it would be both of his two index fingers thanks to his spirited, jovial tongue. His young apprentice and project Michael (Steven Robertson) – is indecipherable to most thanks to his cerebral palsy – but his new companion knows where he is coming from – a world filled with more sorrow than joy.

Presenting many of the perils – brushing teeth or how does one jump off into a canal when there is no wheel chair accessibility? – but the narrative doesn’t rest on such issues – this is less about being restrained by a handicapped, but being repressed about living life even in moments that hurt. When nature calls its embarrassing, when the hired assisted-living girl says no, there isn’t another girl in a wheelchair waiting for sloppy seconds. It’s a rare case of a film that doesn’t talk down to the audience nor to its characters – O’Donnell does a tremendous job with this film by including a more blunt, realistic approach.

While both actors do a tremendous job the film would have definitely attained a different emotional level say if the film would have to see real people with disabilities in the central roles. Stocking itself with human spirit, high family entertainment value and genuine laughs, Rory O’Shea refreshingly avoids cliché, while thankfully, nobody gets the girl in the end – no other film this year will better describe the true worth of friendship.

Rating 2.5 stars