SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY Reviews
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Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – BRWC Review. By Simon Thompson.
When I think of the perfect casts in film history, the usual suspects come to mind: Sean Connery as James Bond, Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta, Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, Brad Pitt Darden as Tyler, Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, etc. For me that award will forever go to the absolute genius who decided to cast a lanky, unknown 25 year old straight out of drama school named Christopher Reeve as one of the most iconic and most iconic actors of all time. Important comic book character of all time: Superman.
Ever since I watched his movies regularly on TV as a child, Reeve has truly embodied this character for me. But before seeing Ian Bonhaute and Peter Etedgui's excellent documentary, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, I realized that I knew almost nothing about Christopher Reeve, apart from the tragic accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down for the last nine years of his life. Christopher Reeve the man.
Etedgui and Bonhaute's documentary rectifies this and much more, because by compiling Reeve's own narration, archival footage of his life, and interviews with his family and friends, you leave the cinema with a complete portrait of a man who is as inspiring as you are. You'll probably find out soon enough.
Before seeing the film, I assumed the story would begin with Reeve's childhood and then move chronologically to his accident in the 1990s. Instead, the audience is immediately confronted with the accident. With Reeve in a coma, we are confronted with his fears, worries, suicidal thoughts, and above all the intrusive media frenzy that accompanied his hospitalization and the circumstances his poor family had to avoid.
From this point on, we return to his childhood: growing up the son of divorced parents, struggling to please a highly intelligent, competitive, almost Renaissance-style father named Franklin, and struggling to find comfort. From here, the story moves on to his studies at Juilliard, his capture of the role that brought him worldwide fame and recognition, his failed attempts to break away from the Superman image, his later life as a family man, and finally his tireless work as a disability rights activist, including raising funds for spinal cord injury research.
Through putting his life in focus and interviewing his longtime partner Gae Exton, his children Will, Alexandra, and Matthew, and friends such as Glenn Close, John Kerry, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jeff Daniels, the audience is given a portrait of Reeve in totality allowing us to get a sense of the legacy he left both artistically and socially through his charity the Christopher Reeve Foundation.
If you’re into either documentaries or Superman or are looking to be inspired in any way, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is the perfect movie for you. This movie available on Afdah movies.
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