Tremendous/Man Exhibits Christopher Reeve Past The Treatment

I broke my again in a automobile crash in 1995, the identical yr Christopher Reeve was paralyzed. On the time, he was the one different particular person I knew with an SCI, and understanding he was on the market made me really feel much less alone. However I’ll be trustworthy, I used to be hesitant to look at Tremendous/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, the brand new documentary accessible on HBO and streaming on Max. I’ve at all times felt like there may be extra to Reeve’s story than has been portrayed within the media, and I anxious the documentary would dwell on the identical notes: the equestrian accident that triggered Reeve to develop into a quadriplegic, how inspiring he was and his quest to discover a treatment for spinal wire accidents. 

Fortunately, Tremendous/Man doesn’t fall too far into the inspiration porn entice and provides us a fuller take a look at the person who made folks consider he might fly. The movie does this by counting on house movies and intimate particulars from the folks closest to Reeve, together with his three youngsters — Matthew, Alexandra and Will. They don’t shrink back from revealing some arduous truths, like Reeve not being round for lots of Matthew and Alexandra’s childhood. Reeve had his first two youngsters together with his longtime companion Gae Exton. “The day after I used to be born, he flew to France and went snowboarding with pals,” says Matthew within the documentary. Exton, who met Reeve whereas he was filming Superman, had a entrance row seat to Reeve’s rise to fame and shares what that was like. 

Some highlights of the doc embrace Reeve making Superman (a job that he was inspired to not do as a result of everybody thought that it will be a flop), footage that exhibits his deep friendship with Robin Williams, and protection of his relationship with Dana Reeve. Dana tragically died of lung most cancers simply 18 months after Reeve died in 2004. 

I used to be happy to see late incapacity advocate and quadriplegic Brooke Ellison included within the movie. She and Reeve had been pals, and Reeve directed a TV film primarily based on her life, The Brooke Ellison Story. Ellison shares how vital Reeve was to the incapacity motion however on the identical time how polarizing he was. In 2000, a business aired exhibiting Reeve getting out of his wheelchair and strolling, and it triggered a variety of backlash. “The idea of treatment is a really, very dicey one within the incapacity neighborhood,” says Ellison. 

There are some components of the movie that made me cringe, like when Reeve attends the Oscars lower than a yr after his accident. As he rolls onto the stage, the superstar stuffed viewers stands and claps with appears of pity and tears of their eyes. Reeve begins his speech with a joke to attempt to put them comfortable — a tactic that folks with disabilities know too properly. 

I’m glad I gave Tremendous/Man an opportunity. The thorough and nuanced take a look at Reeve’s life and legacy made it an gratifying and touching watch. A second from the movie that has caught with me is when Reeve talks in regards to the irony of taking part in a disabled policeman within the film Above Suspicion proper earlier than he was injured. He ready for the function at a rehab heart, and each time he left it, he stated, “Thank God that’s not me.” He reveals that he regretted that as a result of he was setting himself other than the folks there with out realizing that at any second that could possibly be him.