Powerful documentary about the man who embodied the iconic comic book hero in the ’70s, the tragedy that left him paralyzed, and how it made him a superhero anew
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Starring Christopher Reeve
Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui
Unrated
In theaters soon
Handsome New York actor Christopher Reeve was a virtual unknown when Superman made him a movie megastar in 1978, re-introducing the iconic superhero with a grand cinematic splash to a new generation. Now this emotionally impactful documentary spotlights Reeve’s rocket ride into almost overnight fame at the age of 23, the enduring legacy of his role as the “Man of Steel” in three sequels, and when a tragic accident, less than two decades later, left him paralyzed from the neck down and altered the course of his life forever.
Breaking two vertebrae after being thrown from a horse in an equestrian event, Reeve would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, eventually relearning how to breathe and talk. But his story didn’t start and end with Superman, as he went on to become an undeterred advocate for disability rights, starting a foundation to raise awareness and pursue research on spinal cord injuries and paralysis.
The film’s narrative unfolds primarily through interviews with Reeve’s four now-adult children, archival footage and home movies, and conversations with his celebrity pals and the British model, Gae Exton, with whom he had a ten-year relationship before meeting and marrying his wife of 12 years, Dana. One of the most intriguing parts is the warts-and-all exploration of Reeve’s childhood in a fractured household, with an overbearing, aloof and absentee father and an absence of good examples.
Perhaps you already know he was lifelong friends (and former roommates) with actor Robin Williams, who saw his own star rise in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The movie examines their durable relationship, and how Williams—known as a leading Hollywood funnyman—worked hard to uplift Reeve’s spirits after his debilitating injury. When his buddy was in the hospital after the accident in 1995, Williams came to visit, masking himself in surgical scrubs and schtick-ing it up as an overzealous Russian proctologist. Reeves couldn’t talk or even smile, but Williams swears he saw his blue eyes twinkle.
Reeve ultimately lost his battle with his battered body in 2004; in a cruel coda, wife Dana (a lifelong nonsmoker) succumbed to stage four lung cancer two years later. But the work of their Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation continues, driven by the passion of their children. Super/Man is a wide-arcing, soaring tribute to hope, drive, determination and dedication, and you’re a stronger, stiffer person than me if you can watch it through without feeling your eyes get a bit moist. And you’ll certainly come away with a new appreciation for an actor whose biggest feat, it turns out, wasn’t flying high up on the screen, but traveling here in the trenches of the real world, spreading a message of hope and dignity in his final role from a wheelchair, as another kind of superhero entirely.
—Neil Pond
The Media Tourist 