This movie was very inspirational, sad, and moving. It was amazing to watch someone so limited physically effect the lives around her and do so much with her own life. I, of course, had a huge lump in my throat when her and her true love Luis could not be together. Really makes you reflect on your own life and realize how much more you could be doing with it.
9 Reviews
Good movie about handicapped individual ...
dwpollar17 March 2001
An excellent film with a fine cast and script
llltdesq14 December 2001
This is an excellent film, with a well-written script and fine performances, particularly by Rachel Levin and Norma Aleandro. The comments that are placed at the front page for this film are incorrect factually on one point: My Left Foot was released two years after this film, not concurrently. For what it's worth, I have Cerebral Palsy. Both Levin and Day-Lewis deliver stunning work in their respective roles, but my view is that MLF is a slightly better film and both are magnificent and worth seeing. Anyone interested in either should by all means watch King Gimp as well, a documentary on Dan Keplinger, an artist with Cerebral Palsy. This film, and the other two, are most highly recommended.
A woefully overlooked spectacular drama.
Inserts23 March 2003
I loved this movie which was released in the same era as "My Left Foot". I consider "Gaby: A True Story" an equal in quality to that movie, and I hope that it will some day receive the attention it deserves. The performance by the female lead is as haunting as the story itself.
Almost perfect drama
fertilecelluloid29 December 2003
This is one stunning drama that never misses a beat.
Gaby, suffering from cerebral palsy, overcomes enormous challenges with the help of a Mexican maid and supportive parents.
But this summary barely does justice to this perfectly directed and acted drama.
The score, by Maurice Jarre, is simply stunning, and the performances (all of them) are spot-on.
I adore this movie and count it as one of my Top Ten of All Time.
Gaby, suffering from cerebral palsy, overcomes enormous challenges with the help of a Mexican maid and supportive parents.
But this summary barely does justice to this perfectly directed and acted drama.
The score, by Maurice Jarre, is simply stunning, and the performances (all of them) are spot-on.
I adore this movie and count it as one of my Top Ten of All Time.
The only Hollywood movie to get Mexico City right
richmx21 June 2006
I'll defer to the first commentator on how well the film deals with CP, but one thing that impressed me was that -- with one or two minor details that I question (college students usually don't live alone, and certainly not in large apartments) -- this is the ONLY Hollywood film I've ever seen that captures Mexico City, and Mexico, as a normal place with its own quirks.
Really, though, the film is more about maid's nobility and heroism (after all, she had to go to school as an adult)which is slightly overlooked with an impressive Argentinian like Norma Leandro playing a Mexican "campasina".
Really, though, the film is more about maid's nobility and heroism (after all, she had to go to school as an adult)which is slightly overlooked with an impressive Argentinian like Norma Leandro playing a Mexican "campasina".
Better than "My Left Foot"
jtur8820 January 2001
This film was released the same year as "My Left Foot"---and as so often happens, the Better film gets ignored and the inferior wins the Oscars. This is a genuinely quality performance by every member of the cast, and it deals with the same subject matter as MLF: a child who grows up with a mental gift, a disabled body, and all the tugged heartstrings that are essential to the cinema. Rachel Levin plays the Day-Lewis part even more convincingly, and Norma Aleandro is never less than superb.
Better than "My Left Foot"
tanukus9 December 2007
As is often pointed out: the same theme, as in "my Left Foot", a life of handicapped person, Gabi. But I totally agree with jtur 88, this movie is better than "My Left Foot". The actors are superb. I would like to say, Everyone performs with conviction: Conviciton of not just performances, but of the way they see life. In "Gabi" there is nothing sentimental, nothing sensational, "No cheap pity for Gabi". This is the basic line of the movie. Because of this I was moved deeply and I would like to have this film at home, so that my daughter can watch it too. I wish, there would be more movies like "Gabi". A proof of conscience in the movie world. (Sorry for my restricted English ability)
Overlooked and touching
bellino-angelo201424 April 2023
Everybody knows MY LEFT FOOT. After all, it's considered a classic of the 1980s and it made Daniel Day Lewis win the first of his three Academy Awards. But very few know that a year before that a movie about another person with a similar life was being made. And despite having never seen MY LEFT FOOT but being an obscure movie lover myself, I gave GABY A TRUE STORY a try and I loved it to the point that I wanted to give it a score higher than 10... it's that great!
The movie follows the life of Gaby Brimmer (Rachel Chagall) that is the daughter of Jewish refugees living in Mexico that has cerebral palsy. In other words, her entire body is paralized except her mind and her left foot, and with the help of her tutor succedds in attending school, college and become a successful writer even tho dealing with some personal tragedies.
The acting by Chagall was great (and it's a shame that she hasn't made that many movies after this one), and also by Robert Loggia, Liv Ullman and Tony Goldwyn. The plot, while at times depressing, was still inspiring because it gives the message that even tho you have some serious impairments, you can make it in life. In fact, Brimmer's dad makes the example that Beethoven was deaf yet he made all that great classical music.
Not to be missed even if you already saw MY LEFT FOOT (unlike me) because it has some touching moments and an inspiring feel to it that it will make you root for Gaby despite her handicap. And since it's on Youtube, give it a try if you stumble upon it during a search.
The movie follows the life of Gaby Brimmer (Rachel Chagall) that is the daughter of Jewish refugees living in Mexico that has cerebral palsy. In other words, her entire body is paralized except her mind and her left foot, and with the help of her tutor succedds in attending school, college and become a successful writer even tho dealing with some personal tragedies.
The acting by Chagall was great (and it's a shame that she hasn't made that many movies after this one), and also by Robert Loggia, Liv Ullman and Tony Goldwyn. The plot, while at times depressing, was still inspiring because it gives the message that even tho you have some serious impairments, you can make it in life. In fact, Brimmer's dad makes the example that Beethoven was deaf yet he made all that great classical music.
Not to be missed even if you already saw MY LEFT FOOT (unlike me) because it has some touching moments and an inspiring feel to it that it will make you root for Gaby despite her handicap. And since it's on Youtube, give it a try if you stumble upon it during a search.
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