The Miracle Worker
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Movie Reviews of The Miracle Worker
Movie Review: spectacularly moving film experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this for my daughter, who was reading the Helen Keller story. In my childhood, I had read the play and a novel about Anne Sullivan, so I thought we might enjoy this film together. She asked me to watch it with her, and we sat down and were utterly transported by the story and acting.
In a nutshell, it is about an achievement that no one else had ever done, breaking through to communicate with a deaf and blind child, whom her parents had understandably spoilt in their desperation and love. Sullivan had to get her parents to understand that Helen can put words to objects and thoughts as well as establish authority with her pupil, who is used to getting her way no matter what her behavior. To do so, Sullivan must fight both Helen and the entire way that the family has adapted to her. There is the spoilt son from another marriage, the indulgently caring mother at the end of her rope, and her old-south authoritarian father. This leads, to putit mildly, to a struggle that is existential and entirely believable. It was so moving that both my daughter and I were reduced to tears of empathy and rage.
There is no other film experience like this, with the possible exception of Children of a Lesser God. Patty Duke is fabulously believable, Bancroft beautifully dogged in her determination to break through the physical and emotional barriers, who must put her own demons to rest while serving the family. That being said, the spare style of the cinematography is similar to that of the Twilight Zone, which dates the film.
Warmly recommended. This is one of the best family films I have ever seen.
Movie Review: such a great teacher film
Summary: 5 Stars
If this film were made today we would all feel sorry for Helen Keller at the way Annie Sullivan treats the poor girl. It is so great to see how the Teacher takes on knowing that only she is the only one who can save Keller from becoming the animal she will be for the rest of her life. "The Battle of Wills" is probably the best ever put on film. Just watching Annie, break Keller, is great. Yet we, even as movie goers of this generation root for Annie everytime she beats the child when she tries to teach her manners and words. Now why don't we do that to kids now days? Some do need that kind of dicipline. Even Helen Keller later said she needed to be beat to be the person she became. But even if we did do that, now days "Parents" would say "NOT MY KID. MY KID IS A GREAT KID". It's actually the stupidest thing parents can and would say about there own kids. Lets face its's when it comes to kids being find out to actually showing there true self. Parents are the last to know who there kids really are. So parents never say you know you're kids or never say "not my kid". Back to the film. I love this film. Since the first time I saw this way back when. Too long ago to count. I loved it. It's amazing the acting skills Patty Duke had at such a tender age. Anne Bancroft also had the acting chops to impress the Academy to win that very loved and cuvated award. So did Duke. This is one film where we see the way teaching and dicipline and love for a student can save him or her from the roughness of life if one learns the wonders of an eduaction.Movie Review: Bancroft Dukes it out to perform miracle acting job!
Summary: 5 Stars
This has got to be an all time classic based on the true life of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. The last time I saw this film, I was a young boy; but I never forgot the story of Helen Keller, her obstacles and how she overcame them with the help of a determined teacher; Anne Sullivan.
The film sends a great message to all of us saying that no matter how bad our hand may be that life gives us, there is nothing the human spirit can't overcome, if we simply don't quit. Helen was born blind and deaf. Her parents didn't know how to reach her or teach her; so she grew up in the dark world of her mind. This was so until a teacher, whose own past was a nightmare to overcome, enters her life to try and bring the light of knowledge and reason into young Helen's dark world.
The interplay between Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke is simply Academy Award Winning acting in my book, which this film got; as the two actresses strive to bring forward a well written script sumarizing the war it took to bring light into Helen's mind and who went to become a brilliant teacher in her own right.
This is a great film for the entire family and a very spiritually uplifting film when it comes to the battles we all face in life. If you think you have problems in your own life, this story will either make you think you are not alone or will make you think your troubles are small next to what Helen Keller had to overcome.
Movie Review: A Truly Wonderful Film
Summary: 5 Stars
The story of Helen Keller is well known. But how she conquers deafness and blindness bears a powerful message for overcoming other prejudices (racism, sexism) as well.Her teacher, Annie Sullivan (played by the gorgeous Anne Bancroft) is motivated by her own experiences growing up in the dank cruelty of asylums where blind and handicapped children were institutionalized with no chance for education and self fulfillment. She is driven with a messianic zeal to help her charge who, much like herself, has been similarly deprived.
Helen, thought to be dumb, has been relegated by her family's ignorance to the status of a child-like pet; indulged because her infirmities are assumed to be unfixable.
By today's standards, the movie's dialog and pacing are a little intense. And the physical violence (slapping mainly) between teacher and pupil might make some, especially young children, somewhat uncomfortable. But the performances by both Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke (as Helen) are mesmerizing.
Helen, sharp as a tack (which is how she became so manipulative) is starved for knowledge and connection, and Miss Sullivan uses this hunger to bring her out. The story is well paced. And few movies I've seen recently have been so thoroughly filled with love!
The only difficulty I had in watching this work - was my need to constantly wipe the haze from my eyes. This is a truly wonderful film.
Movie Review: I would give it six stars, if I could
Summary: 5 Stars
I had not seen this movie/video in a number of years. I was a teenager or so at the first viewing time. My memory was that it was very powerful and moving and not a lot beyond that. So, having mangaged to get my hands on one of the few that are rentable, I set aside a viewing time.
I was thunderstruck. The reality (not graphic gratuity, of course, this was made in early 1960's) was not easy, but rewarding. Helen Keller overcame some formidable odds, not the least of which was her family who were determined (unknowingly) to maintain her helpless state out of fearful love of not demanding anything of her. Then a stranger, Annie Sullivan, comes to the family in their desperation to do what the family could not do.
Being the basis of a true story, this drama of Helen Keller's life verifies what rewards a stubborn love can reap. A sensitive discipline of any child is never hurtful. I would recommend this incredible experience to any parent, teacher, counselor or Christian ministry member who wants to learn the value of commitment in the face of hard-headed belligerence and ignorant defiance.
There are very, very few videos and dramas, by my mind, that I could make this claim for: Excellence and the highest rating possible. Buy this!