Film Review: The Miracle Worker

Poster for The Miracle Worker

Note: This was submitted as an assignment for my Women in Culture class. I am reprinting it here because I think it adequately analyzes the acting, direction, and general themes of the film for the purpose of a review.

In the time following the American Civil War, industrialization was changing the structure of American society. On an Alabama estate, a blind and deaf girl was struggling to communicate with others and feel her way around the world. Frustrated with the girl’s behavior, her parents requested a teacher from Boston to personally train the girl. The 1962 United Artists film The Miracle Worker chronicles Anne Sullivan’s tutoring of Helen Keller and the incredible accomplishment the pair reaches in communicating thoughts and emotions.

The Miracle Worker, directed by Arthur Penn, is based on William Gibson’s play, which in turn is based on Keller’s and Sullivan’s writings. Anne Bancroft plays Anne Sullivan, a half-blind Irish-American graduate from the Perkins School for the Blind who comes on her first assignment. The young Patty Duke assumes the role of Helen Keller, a girl walking around with her head tilted upwards and arms outreached to compensate for her lack of sight and hearing. Bancroft and Duke won Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.

The movie involves Sullivan’s introduction to Helen and the trials they face in attempting to interact. Sullivan arrives at the Keller estate to meet Helen only to have Helen lock Sullivan in her own room. Helen is accustomed to acting how she wants without punishment, so Sullivan drills into Helen proper behavior as she attempts to teach the girl the sign language alphabet. At one point Sullivan locks herself and Helen in the dining room to force Helen to behave herself at a meal even if the struggle destroys the entire room. Sullivan convinces Helen’s parents to allow her to bring Helen to a separate cabin where Helen learns to depend on her tutor. In the climactic and emotionally swelling ending, Helen sounds out the word “water” at the pump and demonstrates to Sullivan and the rest of the Keller family that Helen can understand sign language.

Bancroft does a fantastic job as Keller’s doggedly determined teacher. Though Sullivan is noted to be class valedictorian, the Kellers are at first uncomfortable with Sullivan’s lack of experience and lack of eyesight. Captain Keller’s insistence that Sullivan take off her sunglasses while talking to him allows the viewer to see Bancroft’s passionate and powerful stare that prompts the Southern gentleman to allow her to put her glasses back on. Bancroft portrays a woman who knows what her student is capable of and does not settle for the complacent role women generally served at the time. She is obstinate when necessary, grabbing Helen and forcing her to sit at the table and fold her napkin even as their struggle wrecks the dining room. However, Bancroft shows that Sullivan was kind and loving as in a later scene she speaks in a soft tone about how Helen will come out of her shell as Helen holds a newborn chick in her hands.

Complementing Bancroft’s performance, Patty Duke wonderfully portrays the young Helen Keller’s struggle to understand and interact with her world. While Duke was 16 when she won her Academy Award, the real Helen Keller was 7 years old when she met Sullivan. However, the age difference does not detract from the emotional weight of the picture. Throughout most of the movie Duke stumbles around with her hands outstretched and head tilted upward, as she is unable to perceive most of the world around her. Duke’s imitation of a happy and angry face as she is being tutored is unbelievably charming. Duke’s frustrated combat with Bancroft in wrecking the dining room gains emotional weight as the camera jolts back and forth and pans low to follow Duke’s frustrated temper tantrums in a way not possible in the original play. When the movie demonstrates the moments when Helen is genuinely happy, notably when she is holding the newborn chick and when she feels the water at the pump, the audience shares in the ecstatic moments that Duke portrays.

At its heart The Miracle Worker contrasts the struggles of communication with the joy of expression. The movie starts in darkness when Mrs. Keller yells out to her husband because she notices the infant Helen is not looking at her mother and reacting to her mother’s voice. As the opening credits roll, unobtrusive music follows Helen through shadows, reflections, and unknown locations. The movie also demonstrates Sullivan’s struggles to communicate with a disorienting montage while Sullivan rides a train to the Keller estate. Sullivan tells Helen’s parents of her destitute life at an asylum. Blurred flashbacks demonstrate how the half-blinded Sullivan feels remorse over abandoning her crippled brother to become a teacher. Scenes of loud emotional outbursts precede quieter moments defined by actions instead of words. The audio complements the visual disorder as Helen vies to express herself with minimal dialogue. A civil discussion around the dinner table leads to a yelling match, yet the struggle that follows between Sullivan and Helen is even more violent than the preceding discussion.

While The Miracle Worker is about communication, the movie also has a strong theme of women’s liberation as well as imagery of childbirth and child rearing. Before Sullivan’s arrival, Captain Keller and his son believe that Helen is like an animal, unable to understand words, and can only be expected to occupy a subservient role in society. In a tearful exchange Mrs. Keller reveals to Sullivan that she believes Helen is a bright girl because as an infant Helen spoke the word “water.” In fact, Mrs. Keller, not the attending physician, noticed that baby Helen could not see or hear. Helen’s revelation at the water pump and ecstasy to learn more about her surroundings is the moment she comes out of her shell like when she holds the newborn chick in her hands. Captain Keller’s refusal to admit General Grant’s stubbornness as key to winning the siege of Vicksburg is a metaphor for Captain Keller’s inability to comprehend that his daughter Helen is intelligent and capable enough to express herself. Grant’s obstinacy is also a metaphor for Sullivan’s patience to bring Helen into the world and restore to her the opportunities she had when she was still an infant.

Though The Miracle Worker story is more than a century old, the tale’s emotional impact transcends time for today’s struggles in communication and expression. The 1962 film adaptation of the stage play conveys the gripping story of a young girl and her tutor both wanting to proudly explore their world. I highly recommend that everyone watch this movie.