It dawns on me as I start to watch this, that some people might not know who Superman is. If you’re under the age of 40 you might think you know, but I suspect you might not know his real name. No not Clark Kent. Christopher Reeve! If that name isn’t familiar, you must watch this immediately. If it is, you must watch this immediately. Reeve was of course the original Superman and played the iconic hero for four, admittedly increasingly poor films. Regardless he was a star, one with a megawatt smile. This though starts with the other thing you may know about Reeve, his accident. I’m sure there must be other documentaries about Reeve, but this feels definitive and helped by the families involvement, it’s very thorough. His children all feature, along with some famous faces and plenty of archive that covers both his professional and personal life. There’s a common thread though, he’s driven. He’s a fighter. Documentaries can often be hard hitting, but this had me tearing up inside 10 minutes. Not because I felt sorry for him being paralysed after falling off a horse (although I did), but because of his steely determination to not let it stop him, not let it define him. There’s plenty of back story. A fractured childhood, with an impossible to please father. His start in acting, serious theatre that lead to the thought to be futile choice to be The Man of Steel. It’s all cut together beautifully. The making of the Superman films and the rebuilding of the man excepting a new unforeseen chapter in his life. Getting back to work in film both behind and in front of the camera. Advocacy work for not only spinal cord injury sufferers, but disability awareness in general. All glued together by a complex personal life. It’s a rollercoaster 90 minutes portraying a wildly varying life story, with a crazy amount of pressure put on Reeve and his family, who are almost as remarkable as he is. Seriously powerful stuff.
9/10
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