First off, as a paraplegic/double amputee myself I'm less likely to be vulnerable to the overt and obvious emotional manipulations evident throughout Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui's good but far from great documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. Touted as awards season fodder, it's awards season fodder only because Hollywood loves to exploit a good disability story and these days that's becoming harder to do with our mega-stars reaching for an Academy Award by playing yet another "tragic" human being turned inspirational. 

Don't get me wrong. Reeve's story is worthy of a documentary and inspirational doesn't begin to describe the man's resilience in going from Hollywood superhero to a real-life superhero with a legacy destined to be remembered for years to come. 

Where the filmmakers do nail it is in portraying Reeve's humanity. Super/Man kicks off with the 1995 accident that left Reeve paralyzed, an equestrian mishap that could happen to anyone really. It still seems weird that it happened to Reeve, the Superman we most remember of all those who've donned the cape and a man whose adventurous personality seemed impenetrable. At times, Super/Man feeds into this with interviews with the likes of Susan Sarandon, Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels and others. The film is at its best when it's a bit more personal, Reeve's children recalling honestly his quirks and parental foibles and when it tackles Reeve's rather privileged take on fundraising that had a tendency to forsake quality of life for research. 

To be honest, I struggled with Reeve myself for years. He was a good man who did good things in rather horrific circumstances. While he's likely the first actor one thinks of when saying Superman, the truth is that it's his post-accident life that has created his true legacy and it's a remarkable legacy even if there are those of us in the disability who shake our heads and lament some of the lost opportunities. Super/Man does capture this conflict, though the material feels only surface deep in really diving into Reeve's life and dips far too often into what the late British comic called "inspiration porn." Made with the cooperation of Reeve's family, Super/Man is fascinating, immensely moving, and yet never quite achieves the greatness to which it's obviously aiming. 

There is a certain irony in the fact that Reeve may have very well become Superman once his body could no longer live into the Hollywood stereotypes and he could no longer don the suit. While Super/Man may never quite become the documentary that I'd have wanted it to be, it's still a memorable and life-affirming doc honoring the joys and sorrows of a man who soared amidst them all. 

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic