Today is Saturday, December 7, 2024, the 83rd anniversary of America’s entry into the Second World War with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. As then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) said about this earth-shattering incident, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” This line is from FDR’s speech to Congress on December 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which is often referred to as the “Day of Infamy” speech, as taken from the citation mentioned in Google. There is some controversy over whether January 6, 2021, could be another day of infamy, but I think it certainly is, despite how one political party has desperately tried to rewrite the history surrounding it. History will factually judge the moment for what it truly represented long after despots and other political leaders are dead and buried. That’s what I believe.

From this serious beginning, I can now wholeheartedly recommend an excellent and moving documentary on the actor who first portrayed the comic book hero Superman in movies in 1978, Christopher Reeve. The documentary is entitled Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and it’s the work of filmmakers Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui who were also responsible for 2018’s look at fashion designer Alexander McQueen in the documentary McQueen. This intimate look of relative unknown Reeve before his attaining superstardom with the role of Superman in 1978, playing alongside movie heavyweights as Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman, is fascinating and downright poignant, as it traces his life before and after the tragic accident that defined his life after 1995 in which he broke his neck in a horse-riding accident leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. Even though he was unable to do so many things that he took pride in formally doing like skiing, sailing, and even piloting planes, it provided him with new purpose and motivation to become an advocate for the disabled. I guarantee that you cannot watch this movie without resorting to dabbing your eyes with Kleenex.

The film does not skip over Reeve’s many foibles and flaws, especially when he was younger and was the product of a fractured upbringing defined by an overbearing father and early divorce. The production is flavored with many interviews with his adult three children and Hollywood actors who knew the remarkable man while alive, people like Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels (who starred with Reeve in a very early off-Broadway play), Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, and others. What is especially poignant is the relationship between Reeve and the late comedian/actor Robin Williams that is portrayed very honestly here. I think it was Close who posits that Williams would still be alive today if his very good friend did not die before him. Every memory offers up a fresh perspective of the complex man known as Christopher Reeve and touches on the tragedy of that impending incident.

The audience is also provided with Reeve’s own voiceovers with regard to how he dealt with the tragedy of never walking again and his adjustment to being in a wheelchair. In addition to the Reeve’s family’s contributions here, there was additional access to the Warner Bros. archives that shows how truly inspiring Reeve’s Superman films continue to be. As a devotee of the character of Superman all my life, I certainly have memories of rushing to the movies to see this first version of Superman when it first came out. I also reacted with horror when I learned about the actor’s terrible plunge off a horse in 1995.

The documentary honestly deals with Reeve’s uphill battle after accepting the iconic film role and how his movie career actually suffered as a result of this typecasting. It seems that his casting as mild-mannered Clark Kent/Superman made audiences unwilling to accept him in anything else. Even though he accepted roles out of the box like the religious drama Monsignor and the thriller Deathtrap opposite Michael Caine. Reeve could not shake that image of squeaky-clean Superman from his resume after appearing in four Superman films. He did get excellent reviews on Broadway in 1980’s Fifth of July opposite Jeff Daniels who talks movingly of him in the documentary. The film makes it clear that the shadow of Superman plagued Reeves wherever he went. That drastically changed after his accident in 1995.

Then we are plunged into the darker side of what befell the handsome actor who played the part of Superman when he was only 24. His daily struggles with his disability are shown in archival footage, as his second wife Dana Reeve, is his rock and anchor. His children Alexandra, Will, and Matthew all play prominent roles in the film, as they reminisce about their famous father and how the accident loomed large in their lives. At some point, you hear Reeve talk about what is important in one’s life and you see how he changed his perspective once he lost his mobility. It goes something like this: when he was younger, it was being driven to do the best in physical activities like sailing, skiing, and horseback riding, but when he was immobilized, he realized it’s the connection with family that is much more important. Soon he becomes a very strong advocate for spinal cord injury research and for finding a cure. A Christopher Reeve Foundation is formed to raise money and the public’s awareness of spinal cord injuries.

In a very different way, Reeve’s injury turned the deeply passionate actor into another sort of Superman, a true hero, to those struggling with disability without the fame of someone like Reeve in their purview. The film really shows how Reeve persevered in times of adversity and how he came out swinging for those without a voice. I loved this concluding quote from a review of the film in CBR: “After seeing the documentary, people will not only believe a man can fly, but they might just think he can walk again as well, because they’ve seen Christopher Reeve become a hero without a cape.”

Christopher Reeve succumbed to his injuries at the age of 52 in 2004; his devoted wife Dana tragically followed him just two years later, in 2006, when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. (A friend being interviewed said that Dana never even smoked.) As I said earlier, have a box of tissues available when watching this touching documentary. It’s being shown on HBO or Max if you have the streaming service.

Have a good Sunday.

And so it went!