Christopher Reeve was my Superman. With all due respect to Henry Cavill, Dean Cain, Brandon Routh (who?), and anybody else who donned the cape, Christopher Reeve embodied the role and the persona so much better than anyone else, it’s hard to believe anybody ever argues the point. And few do.
On May 27, 1995, Chrostopher Reeve was thrown from a horse and landed on his head, instantly shattering two vertebrae. He would never walk again. But that doesn’t begin to describe the severity of the injury which left Reeve paralyzed below the neck. His head had to be “re-attached to his body.” It would take months just to get Reeve to wheelchair status.
And at this point in his life, Reeve slowly turned into an activist and advocate for persons with disabilities. In this way, he transformed into a different type of hero: the one that demonstrates bravery through force of will and desire to achieve alone.
Do I like Christopher Reeve? Geez, who doesn’t? Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story explores whole lot of the man, most of which we knew, some of which we didn’t … and Robin Williams kept showing up. Do you think Robin Williams starring as Popeye was influenced by his friend being Superman? Hard not to see it, huh?
Well, before I trash the Superman influence, I have to give it credit: in 1978, there were not superhero movies. There were superhero cartoons, maybe. It’s not like adaptation ideas hadn’t occurred to anybody; we’d already had decades of cheap and unsatisfying adaptations. Most were for small screen, and all of them were laughable on several levels. Richard Donner’s film changed that. Superman was a huge box office success, in turn paving the way for Batman, who ruled the late 1980s, and, eventually, the entire network of DC and Marvel Studio films on big and small screens.
If Reeve didn’t make a believable Superman, does any of that happen? You tell me. One thing is clear: Superhero films became a big, big deal. I don’t think Reeve’s portrayal can be underplayed, quite frankly.
And then for a decade or so, we cared about people with disabilities, all led by this man who seemed to be an endless source of positive energy. The thing that struck me most about this documentary is that Hollywood needs more disabled people; many disagreed with his direction – Reeve always talked about “cure” as if something was wrong, which is antithetical to disabled empowerment. Still, whether or not his energy was directed correctly, we talked a lot more about the disabled when Reeve was alive.
In short, he was a hero both and off screen, and one worthy of this attention a full twenty years after his death.
The documentary glosses over a few of the more shall we say- questionable aspects of Christopher Reeve, hero. From 1978-1987, he had a partner, Gae Exton, whom he never married, and kinda discarded slowly-but-surely. The film talks early on about how devastated Chris was by his own parents’ divorce and his vow he wouldn’t go that route. And, yet, clearly, his Superman fame allowed him to aband
on his partner and children at will. Do you think they’d speak ill of him, were he not paralyzed for life at 43 and dead by age 52? Hard to say.
The film couldn’t keep the energy it showed early on, slowing considerably when it finally introduces Dana Morosini, who would become Mrs. Christopher Reeve, and the reason he never gave up hope after the accident. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story also barely skims how or why this “consummate professional” clearly phoned in performances for Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Had either of those two come first, superhero films might still be DOA.
It’s hard not to get emotional over the story of Christopher Reeve: good guy becomes screen legend overnight, then has tragic accident in which he loses 90% of his body instantly … which transforms him into a champion for an underserved and largely ignored populace before dying too young. And he did it all with optimism and a constant smile. It’s difficult not to shed a tear at the story as presented. As documentaries go, this one seems right in line with the recent ones of Michael J. Fox and William Shatner – likable guys you should know more about. I don’t think this material is as deep as either of those two, but, still, it’s hard not shed a tear or two.
There once was a super man, Chris
Whose life seemed an endless bliss
Struck down in his prime
Would not yield his time
For his personality we couldn’t dismiss
Rated PG-13, 104 Minutes
Director: Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui
Writer: Ian Bonhôte, Otto Burnham, Peter Ettedgui
Genre: Good guys
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who watched Superman on the big screen in 1978
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Lex Luthor
