My Feral Heart – Movie Review

By Ken Ross (Vice-Chair and trustee at Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association, producer, award-winning filmmaker, BAFTA Accessibility & Inclusion Patron)

My Feral Heart has already won fourteen international film awards, with Steven Brandon winning Best Actor at the National Film Awards, beating Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne and Michael Fassbender, no less!

Despite being born with a serious cardiac problem that necessitated open-heart surgery at three months old, Oliver has spent his life blasting all predictions and expectations into oblivion. He was so poorly after his birth that it was thought he The much-anticipated terrestrial screening of My Feral Heart finally happened on BBC4 on 18 March 2021, to coincide with Down Syndrome Awareness Week. It is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until comparing circumstances and outcomes as they are intrinsically entwined. Beautifully directed by Jane Gull and skilfully written by Duncan Paveling, My Feral Heart has been pivotal in might not survive long enough to reach his date for cardiac March 2022. Don’t miss it! Although the surgery. After sailing through that firstfilm has already been around for four challenge, though, Oliver then took on the numerous other conditions and years, this propulsion into the mainstream, having been largely viewed on issues he was assessed as having and continued to surprise SKY where it was a 5-star rated film and medics and educational professionals with his progress as a record-breaking “cinema on demand” release, means despite the many barriers placed in his way.that a much larger audience beyond the disability community are finally getting At the involved. time of writ-The well-deserved hype around the film has ing this article largely been driven by Mark in March 2021, Kermode (chief film critic for the Oliver is Observer), who rated it as twenty-four one of the most influential films of the decade. years old and lives with his family in the Blackdown Hills The film openson thewith a Somerset/Devon border. Hescene of home life, where enjoys an interesting, fulfilling, and enjoyable life and isLuke, a man with Down syndrome (played by Stephen extremely proud of all his Brandon), is quietly achievements.getting on with everyday life: shaving, Oliver’s biological father left when Oliver was six preparing breakfast for his mother Joan (played by the late Eileen Pollock) and years old and chose to have no further contact with Oliver shopping. when he was seven years old. Fortunately for Oliver, he had When Joan dies in her sleep, Luke’s independence is a mum and big sister who were fierceimmediately removed from him. It is at this stage of the in their encouragefilm where you can mentstart to and feel enjoyment of this wonderfula real sense of injustice little person and coming through and they were determined that nothing would ever stand in matters slipping out of control. Alhis way. A few years later, Mike O’Carroll appeared in their though Luke knows exactly what he wants to do followlives, and his connection with Oliver was instant and a ing his mother’s passing, his views are totally ignored, and joy to witness. Hehe is unprepared for what comes next. became a true father to Oliver in everyHis life in turmoil, still grieving, he is thrust into a home for disabled adults, which is a stark contrast to what we saw him enjoying with Joan. There are so many questions still unanswered at the end of the film, that for me, meant I had to watch it again straightaway. There are clues buried throughout the story that provide some clarity, but fundamentally you are still my own journey back into producing films and sharing the abilities of people with Down syndrome to a much wider audience. I was lucky enough to catch up with Duncan and talk about what had inspired him to make this film; he says: “I started volunteering for Mencap from the age of fourteen, and eventually moved into working with children and adults with learning disabilities. I met many people with Down syndrome, but one boy in parI wanted to tell a story ticular, who I worked with for several about loss. years, really stayed in my mind, and I wanted to make some of this story about him. So many scenes came to mind from direct experience, but primarily I didn’t want to make a “courtroom drama” about abuse, I wanted to tell a story about loss. About twenty-five years ago, I saw a film called Le huitième Jour (The Eighth Day) starring Pascal Duquenne, an actor with Down syndrome, and I thought, why not have an actor with Down syndrome as a lead role in a film. The fact that Luke has Down syndrome is only mentioned once in the script because as I say, this is a story about loss, it just so happens, that it is Luke’s story, and he happens to have Down syndrome.” This film serves as a great ambassador to the world on behalf of people with Down syndrome, firmly cementing their right to be treated equally and to tell their own stories! Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association has been proud to present My Feral Heart and hosted the gala screening for the cast and crew, as well as running a series of screenings at BAFTA to promote the film to a more diverse audience in the film and TV industry.