Emmanuel's Gift - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution movie review

'Emmanuel's Gift': An inspiring story, but cheerleading film

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The well-meaning documentary "Emmanuel's Gift" is as inspirational as any of those ubiquitous Olympics profiles that show the athletes' struggles in between the pole vaults and the high diving. No wonder. The movie was made by identical twin sisters, Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern, the same team behind many of those little Olympic bits of Hallmark Card harmony.

First Look Pictures

'Emmanuel's Gift'

B-

The verdict: A powerful, uplifting story diminished by well-intentioned but too worshipful filmmaking.

Directors: Lisa Lax, Nancy Stern
Starring: Oprah Winfrey, Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
Run time: 80 minutes
Release date: Oct. 21, 2005
Rating: G

On the web
Official movie site

Good-girl filmmaking at its most sensitive, the film is suffused with nobility and Oprah-esque do-gooding. (In fact, Winfrey is the narrator.) So much so, it sometimes overwhelms the story (which is a good one). Yet, whenever the charismatic Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah is onscreen, the movie becomes clarified, as if all the overdone butterfat has been churned out of it and what's left is something real and exceedingly meaningful.

"Emmanuel's Gift" is the true story of how Yeboah became a symbol of hope, comfort and pride for roughly 2 million West Africans with disabilities. Born into abject poverty in Ghana, he came into the world with a severely shriveled, unusable right leg. He was supposed to spend the rest of his life begging — presuming he wasn't killed at birth (his father did abandon the family).

Instead, Yeboah decided to make a difference. On a bike given to him by the California-based Challenged Athletes Foundation, he pedaled across his entire country — a journey of 380 miles that would be daunting to most of us with two strong legs. And that was just the beginning of a further commitment to do away with Ghana's ingrained discrimination against the differently abled.

Winner of the Audience Award at this year's Atlanta Film Festival, "Emmanuel's Gift" is certainly not a bad movie. It's just a case of good intentions unintentionally interfering with a great story.