If you have not heard of I Swear yet, you will. The film about John Davidson, a campaigner for Tourette syndrome from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, walked away from this year’s Baftas with two major prizes and a performance from Robert Aramayo that stopped Hollywood’s biggest names in their tracks.
Aramayo beat Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothee Chalamet and Ethan Hawke to win best actor. He also collected the EE Rising Star award. For a film set in 1980s Scotland about a condition that was barely understood at the time, this is a remarkable achievement.
The story follows Davidson from the age of 12, when his tics first appeared, through years of being bullied, beaten and at one point arrested because people had no idea what was happening to him. Peter Mullan, Maxine Peak and Shirley Henderson round out a cast that brings real weight to a deeply personal story.
Davidson himself was moved by the reception. “The power that the film’s got is the fact that it’s opened people’s eyes to the real issues,” he said.
The film builds on the 1989 documentary John’s Not Mad, which followed a 16 year old Davidson around Galashiels. He has since been made an MBE for his campaigning work, and this film feels like the next chapter in a story that Scotland should be proud to tell.
I think what makes I Swear work is that it does not ask for pity. It asks for understanding. That is a very Scottish approach to storytelling, and it clearly resonated far beyond our borders.
