I Swear — Review

After the controversy at the 79th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), when John Davidson’s tics were audible, and a racial slur went uncensored in the broadcast, it became clear how widely misunderstood Tourette syndrome still is. Many viewers failed to recognize that Davidson’s tics are involuntary and do not reflect his character. This misunderstanding was compounded by the fact that I Swear, a film about Davidson that directly addresses these issues, had not yet been released in the United States before the ceremony. Although the film had already been released in the United Kingdom, where Robert Aramayo won the BAFTA for Best Lead Performance, U.S. audiences had not yet had the opportunity to engage with its perspective. As a result, many American viewers reacted with outrage to the incident, lacking the context the film might have provided. While Kirk Jones’s I Swear does not deviate from the traditional biopic structure, it is evident that Davidson’s story still needs to be told on a global scale, making the film especially urgent.