The cinematic representation of mental disability has always been a delicate matter, as much as the actor’s performance, that could possibly become a double-edged sword: on the one hand, the chance to create a realistic, intense and significant character, on the other, the risk to slip into excessive pathos and into an overloaded acting (it is the case of Sean Penn in I Am Sam). Needless to say, Tom Hank’s Forrest Gump is the most iconic protagonist of this list of movies about mental disability, even though it is worth mentioning the great performance of the young Leonardo Di Caprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
The best movies about Mental Retardation.