I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan of Christopher Reeve ever since I was a little kid. There was just something about him in Superman  The Movie that I loved. The quote “Don’t Worry Miss I Got You,” when he’s saving Louis Lane (Margot Kidder) from falling and she says “You Got Me, Whose Got You” has stuck with me for nearly five decades. It’s the thing that set him apart as a great iconic hero in my eyes. Little did I know he wasn’t the biggest fan of playing the character and didn’t want to be typecast as Superman/Clark Kent. Super/Man: The Clark Kent Story talks about this and many other aspects of this complicated man’s life.

Later on in my life, I found out more about this man. Of course, everybody who was a fan of his was devastated when they heard he had fallen off of a horse in 1995 and was paralyzed from the neck down. This iconic personality who played Superman was now a paraplegic.  It was hard for people to wrap their minds around. This was who Reeve was though he sought out adventure like horseback riding, paragliding, boating, and other things to get away from his life as a Hollywood star. 

The friendship he made at Julliard with Robin Williams is one he cherished though. They were like two different sides of one person in a way. One was the funny comedic side and the other was the stoic serious side. They balanced each other out in school and life. Their families hung out at gatherings and Williams organized a party every year on the date of the horseback riding accident. Not to remember the accident, but to forget it in a way. 

Williams wasn’t the only star that had fond memories of Reeve though. In what has become the norm in Hollywood, this film has a lot of talking heads. Friends like Susan Sarandon,  Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jeff Bridges and family members like William Reeve, Matthew Reeve, and Alexandra Reeve Givens all had their moment to wax poetic about this incredible man and the legacy he left on and off the silver screen.

Also, documentaries have the habit of using archival footage to help tell the story of their subject. This one is no different. In fact, it uses family home videos to help tell another side of this man’s life. The family videos showed the tender side of this father and husband of three. He was a gentleman off the screen and played with his kids like any father would. He desperately wanted to be an entirely different person than he was on screen. He accomplished that quite well with his second relationship with Dana Reeve, and eventually wife and mother to William. The archival footage and family video gave me a whole new perspective on who this man was.

The film distinctly told two stories within one film. The story of the Hollywood icon and the family man and activist/fundraiser for paralysis. These were two fascinating sides to this man’s life. One he was forced into due to his condition and the other inadvertently fell into once he tried out for the role of Superman/ Clark Kent. The two sides would eventually collide because one side needed the other side. Which resulted in The Christopher Reeve, and later Dana Reeve, Foundation. This foundation has raised millions for stem cell research and to help make life easier for paralyzed persons around the world. Even in pain, Reeve was a force for good. 

I’ve seen a lot of celebrity documentaries in my day. It’s rare that they have as emotional a pull on me as this one did. When that icon John Williams music played I got chills and my hair rose up on my arms. Even though I knew what happened to this man I was crying multiple times when Christopher and Dana both passed away during the context of this film. I couldn’t resist. The tears just flowed out of me. That’s the indelible mark this man and his wife left on society. The filmmakers, Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui captured these people and their lives the best I could have hoped for.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is every Superman fan’s dream come true. It showed who this iconic man truly was in front of and behind the camera. It gave fans like me another moment to enjoy those scenes from Superman The Movie, listen to the great John Williams score once again, and see the mark this film and man left on the world. It also showed the family man the activist and fundraiser for the terrible plight he was forced into in his life. This is a telling story about the fact that Superman on screen ended up like that off of the screen. It just says you never know how your life is going to unfold.  This is one of the best documentaries I’ve seen all year. Will it stand the test of time as an Oscar contender who knows? I hope so though.  It deserves that.

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen