Review by Liz S

Starring Robert Aramayo, Shirley Henderson, Maxine Peake; Directed by Kirk Jones

The group of six who attended all greatly enjoyed the film about a young man with Tourette syndrome. The film takes us from John Davidson's early teenage years, when his promising football career was interrupted as he developed increasing symptoms, through various episodes of his life and eventually to his role as an educator about the condition - for which role he was awarded an MBE. It is based on his book of the same name.

We agreed on a verdict of "Brave, shocking, funny & moving. I Swear opens our eyes to the reality of living with a complex condition". In our discussion, we used descriptive words such as "Emotional", "Powerful", "Insightful", and felt the film provided a good balance between humour and a drama about the difficulties of living with the syndrome. Excellent performances by Robert Aramayo as the older John and Shirley Henderson as his mother, as well as Maxine Peake as the mental health nurse who takes him in and Peter Mullan as a community centre caretaker, both of whom give him tremendous support and guidance. We enjoyed the clever filming of the mayhem of the community centre weekend for those with Tourette syndrome and his meeting of a girl with a similar condition. The pioneering work by Nottingham University in helping to manage the condition was also acknowledged.

Recommended.