Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
On May 27, 1995, Christopher Reeve, known as ‘Superman’ from his role in the movie series of Superman, was riding his horses in the Commonwealth Park equestrian center in Culpeper, Virginia, when his horse failed to jump a one meter high W-shaped fence. Reeve fell and broke his first and second cervical vertebrae. Reeve survived but was a quadriplegic and almost completely paralyzed, and suffered from significant respiratory problems for the remainder of his life. The reaction from people worldwide was about Superman still being unable to fly. Not being able to move at all. There is no doubt that one felt it was a well intended, understandable but ultimately degrading way of looking at it.
The portrayal about Reeve’s accident as put up in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is approached differently as the account does not only sympathize with Reeve’s as a character that had it all before also shows him as a hero who never gave up hope. His vision was thus also to highlight the fact that diseases that made people disabled could also be cured through the help of other sciences.
This movie was co-directed by Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui. They do not back down from the brutal heavy handed physical details of what took place for the viewer to get the right perspective. Such a strategy makes it to be respected within the movie as it also gives viewers a sense of what occurred. Reeve attempted to promote his acting career after his return, subliminally overshadowing his superhero persona. Even in this version of events, viewers are presumed to seek relief so as not to feel depressed.
The filmmakers also do not hesitate to present things as they are. It’s not just the most banal details of Reeve’s life past and present that are important, but the pain and loss his acquaintances went through, his colleagues among them (he was a massively successful actor and an alumni of Juilliard, his roommate was Robin Williams who became like family to him); his wife Dana, the most super heroic woman who nursed him and supported his campaigns and fully engaged with them; his first two kids, Matthew and Alexandra; the mother of the kids Gae Exton (the lady who was in a relationship with Reeve intermittently for about ten years); and perhaps the most intense, little Will Reeve, who was Dana’s son with the actor. Will was still a toddler when the incident occurred and even his third birthday went without the presence of his father being in a sitcom due to the fact that Reeve was bed ridden fighting for his survival in the hospital. The documentary includes quite a few touching moments recorded on home videos, but the scenes of his small son, who is not old enough to realize the degree of his father’s pain, are among the first.
There is quite a lot of information regarding the career of Reeve as an actor, in particularly the tension he felt between the hailing performance of Superman and the need to demonstrate that he can act in other platforms (which he did in “Street Smart,” “Deathtrap” and “Somewhere in Time” although there was no audience turnout as when he was in the cape and tights). But the films are not only confined to this part but also this content is broken with the narrative of his accident, how he survived and how the injury never disappeared and his efforts to deal with the agony.
The film appears a bit abbreviated or compressed at times, one wishes that the film would be able to dwell in a particular scene for a longer period. The music of Ilan Eskheri, who seemingly seeks to achieve effects similar to John Williams’ score for Superman, is more or less always in the background but occasionally goes overboard and where it is not appropriate, attempts to direct our emotions on a very impressive story.
However, this is an interesting narrative piece and nonfiction which, although it operates as a commercial enterprise without seeking the low road of any aspect of Reeves life story, is remarkable in its delivery. In particular, it is impressive when the camera focuses on Reeve’s friends (including Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels and Whoopi Goldberg) as they recall Reeve’s struggles in his new career first as a paralyzed actor (starring in a made for TV version of ‘Rear Window’) and later as a director. It is even more admirable to allow his children to narrate on their father’s fight and the sacrifice of Dana Reeve, who is portrayed as absolutely focused on Reeve’s physical and emotional needs. And those documentary films that actually can ‘understand’, that is to say, be respectful of the message being passed in the footage, are not very many in the present day and this is one of them.
The film indeed has mass appeal and one can only hope that it would invigorate the quest for medical advances that may one day provide relief for patients with spinal cord injury and perhaps eliminate it all together.
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