I Swear | Russell Hobbs British Film Festival 2025

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https://britishfilmfestival.com.au/films/bff25-i-swear

Date Reviewed: 21/10/2025

I Swear – A Raw, Riotous and Remarkable True Story.

A Feelgood true story about brave battlers overcoming medical hurdles is nothing new — but I Swear is not playing nice. 

This one kicks sentimentality square in the guts, taking cheeky aim at the genre itself while offering a wickedly honest look at what it means to live unfiltered in a world obsessed with good manners.

Director Kirk Jones delivers a warm, smart, and deeply human film about real-life activist John Davidson, from Galashiels on the Scottish Borders, who lives with Tourette syndrome. Since first appearing in the 1989 BBC doco John’s Not Mad, Davidson has become a tireless campaigner, eventually earning an MBE for educating Britain about the condition — and for doing it with humour and grit.

Robert Aramayo (Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) plays the adult John with a sharp mix of charm, intelligence and unflinching honesty. Young Scott Ellis Watson captures John’s early years — bullied, misunderstood, and strapped at school for symptoms he couldn’t control. Some difficult moments on screen masterfully portrayed by a strong young cast.

The supporting cast also shines: Shirley Henderson as his overwhelmed, often harsh and somewhat oblivious Mother. 

Maxine Peake, a boyhood friends Mother whom is a compassionate mental health nurse who’s empathy and understanding feels like a warm cloak wrapping the room, and Peter Mullan as Tommy the tough-love community worker who gives him a go. Both impossibly kind characters who offer light after such darkness in the past.

Jones doesn’t sugarcoat the cruelty John faces — from pub punches to police cells — but he finds humour in the absurdity. One standout moment: John, roped into a dodgy drug run, can’t help blurting “I’m carrying drugs!” right in front of two cops. It’s shockingly funny, yet painfully real.

John’s claim that Tourette’s is “not a disability” sparks thought about how we label and understand difference. The courtroom scene, where Tommy argues that John can’t possibly be faking something that gets him bashed and broke, hits like a solid dose of common sense. This theatre nodding in agreement.

The film’s pulse lies in community — especially within a cathartic car scene where John and another Tourette sufferer “tic” in harmony, laughing through their shared chaos. These moments feel raw, liberating and full of life.

There’s a cracker of a moment before John meets the Queen to receive his MBE, when he involuntarily yells: “F**k the Queen!” (Referenced in the movie but not in the real footage we are fortunate to see of John proudly receiving the medal.) It’s a perfect encapsulation of the film’s spirit: rebellious, vulnerable, deeply human and absurdly funny.

I Swear is a bold gem with a big heart and loud mouth — brash, compassionate, unafraid to make you laugh when you believe you shouldn’t. It makes us feel the frustration, freedom, and wild honesty of living with no filter.

A story about dignity, decency, and defiance, whilst giving the middle finger to misunderstanding.

Reviewed by Vivien Lynch