John Davidson was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome at a young age, which alientated him from his peers and family. Struggling with a condition that not many people at witnessed, we see his inspirational story and how he went on to raise awareness and help others.
I Swear is a truly heartbreaking and emotional story, which is impeccably exacuated from start to finish in this film. Showcasing how incredible John Davidson has been across his entire life, managing not to give up the hope that he could achieve a life that many take for granted as normal.
We are shown how everything started for a young John, he had no clue what was happening and everyone around him thought he was just doing it for attention. This naturally caused problems with his parents, siblings and teachers at school in the 1980s. While the way he was treated was horrendous, if people had never seen this syndrome before you can understand slightly the reactions of thinking he was just doing it for attention.
As we then move forward to an adult John who has always then struggled despite the medication he was placed on by doctors, still living with his mother who could not fully cope with it at all. It prevented him being successful at school, and stopped him getting a job. Everything would change for him though when he bumped into an old school friend and his mother Dottie a trained mental health nurse would teach John that he could still have a life.
When then see him growing with that and Tommy Trotter takes on as his assistant as a caretaker at the local community centre and this would all really help him, it took people to understand tourette’s and properly get to know John to see he just wanted to try and live his life. What he would go on to achieve was amazing and I felt as though the film not only raises awareness of the syndrome but also of how much of an amazing person the real John Davidson is!
Robert Aramayo puts in one of the best performances of the year without a doubt, how he managed to truly become that character and take on such a role is remarkable to witness. Everything about it made you go on that journey with John, we have some amusing moments built in, but overall you cannot help feel utterly heartbroken for who difficult this syndrome is for those who must live with it. Peter Mullan, Maxine Peake and Shirley Henderson all over very impressive supporting performances in different ways.
