SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Warner Bros. Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | October 10, 2024

Christopher Reeve was many things to many people, but to the world, he was—and pretty much remains—the embodiment of Superman. After he became paralyzed following a horse riding accident in 1995, the irony of his situation seemed too cruel to be real, and in the home movies and interviews and audio recordings that fill Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Reeve himself sometimes seems as if he cannot believe what has happened to him, either.

He kept going, though, and that's why Reeve remained an inspiration to those who already loved and admired him. Indeed, he became the name and face of those who, like him, had suffered spinal cord injuries, as well as those with disabilities more generally, going public with the full extent of his condition less than a year after the accident and never avoiding the spotlight until his death in 2004. The man became a passionate advocate for medical research and, after some controversy, for improving the quality of life of people with disabilities.

That's the story most of us already know. While directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui's documentary doesn't extend much further than that narrative of Reeve's life, it does dig deeper into the man's personal life than the story we do know. It's about an actor and an activist, yes, but most pointedly and poignantly, the film is about a father, a husband, and a friend, who seemed to learn how to truly love and trust other people when his condition proved just how much people loved and put their trust in him.

Obviously, this is an emotionally potent film, because it's nearly impossible to hear Reeve's story and not become moved, not exclusively by the tragedy of it (although that is a component, of course), but by the example he set without necessarily trying to be an example. Reeve certainly made the decision to become an advocate, in words and in actions and by way of his mere presence in the public eye, but before that, he essentially had to choose to live in the immediate aftermath of his injury.

That's where Bonhôte and Ettedgui's film begins—with the accident that paralyzed Reeve. His three adult children—Matthew, Alexandra, and Will—tell that story, as well as many, many others over the course of the documentary. Their presence in the film is constant and constantly affecting. Part of it is that two sons look a lot like their father and possess a similar air about them, but the lovely part is how all of them clearly have decided to carry on their father's legacy in ways that go beyond simply telling his story. If the sign of a parent's quality is in the children, Reeve, as well as the elder siblings' mother Gae Exton and the youngest's mother Dana, was quite the father.

We see and hear about that first-hand throughout the film, of course, and considering Reeve's fame as an actor and later notoriety as an activist, it's surprising just how much of this story does focus on his personal life. The children explain how their father became an avid horse rider, learning it for a movie in the 1980s, and how it became a passion for him. He rode in competitions and did well, and then at one, the horse he was riding came to a sudden stop, throwing Reeve, who landed on his head.

His survival wasn't guaranteed, and after regaining consciousness some days later, Reeve explains he was considering allowing the doctors to take him off the respirator. It was his wife Dana, who becomes almost as key a figure in the documentary as the main subject, telling him that she loved him and that he was still him that made him choose to keep going—whatever that might mean.

From there, the narrative takes on a slightly more straightforward track, telling us about Reeve's childhood in a broken family and with a father who was impossible to please, before getting to his acting career. He basically became a star overnight, after being cast as Superman while performing in an off-Broadway show with Jeff Daniels and William Hurt. Daniels appears in an interview, as do Glenn Close and Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon, and if the actors' presence is to illuminate Reeve's skills and career as an actor, it's especially telling that they primarily speak of him as a friend instead. The discussion of Reeve's longtime friendship with Robin Williams is illuminating about both actors, too.

The focus on Reeve's tenure as Superman is, perhaps, a little disappointing, since that means the film does overlook the range and promise he showed outside of that star-making role. That's the gift and curse of mostly being known for only one thing, and it was Reeve's pitch-perfect performance as the epitome of comic-book heroism that would make his activism such a powerful force.

The film understands that, and the filmmakers structure their narrative in a back-and-forth manner that juxtaposes his fame and personal foibles, mainly in not being able to fully commit to being a husband and father, with his post-accident public and private lives. This may be a by-the-books story in terms of biography, but that editing approach is smart in the way it makes connections about Reeve's life and career more direct.

This is a very direct film about the man, the actor, the advocate, and his legacy, and that might be the strongest quality of Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. It tells its story with the same passion and sincerity Reeve possessed and inspired in so many.

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