This is making the most of a bad situation in multiple ways. I prefer the hard hitting journalistic documentaries most of all, shining their light into dark places no one sees. But in the sell, sell, sell, doc era, we’re now subject to many of these new documentaries, built around a famous person who’s also producing the film, that end up being glorified advertisements for the subject. Super/Man thankfully is taking that famous person and using their story for good, with a legitimately good idea built around what would have been normally flimsy hero worship.
Because, the doc is about Christopher Reeve! For kids born after 1990, Reeve was the first big budget superhero, playing Superman in 1978, and for a few movies after. Reeve’s celebrity became tied to this indestructible all powerful person until May 1995, when a horse riding accident left him paralyzed, and unable to even breathe on his own. With his persona shattered, Reeve went on crafting a new one, advocating for equitable treatment of handicapped people and pushing technology forward to help people walk again, until his death in 2004.
Documentarians Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui basically start the movie from that tragic May day, where Christopher Reeve’s life was split in half. By doing so, they parallel Superman Christopher Reeve with Christopher Reeve, super man. The story lays out how all of Chris’s Superman sayings more aptly apply to his older self, resilient in the face of desolation and inevitable death, pushing forward with purpose. The movie doesn’t need Susan Sarandon, or Glenn Close, to be a part of this doc, but they willingly do so because they believed in everything Christopher Reeve fought so hard for, not because he was just some actor friend of theirs. The big line in the movie is the last one, used in the trailer, a great message for anyone who feels too small to end up a hero, and also hits like a sack of bricks.
There’s also room in Super/Man for not just Christopher Reeve. When Superman became Clark Kent, Reeve found heroes to root for, just like audiences did with him. In his life, that would include his incredible 2nd wife Dana. She’s so important to Chris and his family’s life that the movie doesn’t really end with his passing, it ends with her tragic one a few year after Chris, and honestly left me more emotional, as she seemed just like a normal, incredibly loving woman forced to push the limits of that love as far as she could. People like Dana inspire Chris to keep going, who inspires countless others in turn, including his kids (Matt basically raised Will after both his parents died). As a result, this story isn’t just a horrible tragedy: it also transforms into a beautiful lesson in what constitutes a hero, and how anyone can become one if they rise to the occasion that needs them.
So be ready, people. One day, circumstances may call upon you to step up and become a hero. And maybe not in the way you though you were supposed to, but in a different way, for entirely different reasons. If you keep you eyes, and your heart, wide open, chances are you’ll find a way though those rough circumstances, and maybe inspire a person or two along the way. Becoming their super man, with a space.