Gaby – A True Story

Unlike most films about the disabled - Coming Home springs to mind - this factually based film does not minimise the unattractiveness of affliction, and the scenes of passion between two handicapped people, Gaby (Levin) and her boyfriend (Monoson), are not easy to watch. A victim of cerebral palsy from birth, Gaby, the brilliant daughter of affluent Jewish refugees living in Mexico City, triumphs over a near total lack of coordination to become a respected writer. Her nanny Florencia (Aleandro) first notices that the infant retains the use of one foot, and over the years harnesses Gaby's ravenous mind to a typewriter keyboard. Both parents (Ullmann and Loggia) experience crises of faith, but the peasant Florencia does not, making her the vigilant strength which occupies the centre of the film.