Super/Man Shows Christopher Reeve Beyond The Cure

I broke my back in a car crash in 1995, the same year Christopher Reeve was paralyzed. At the time, he was the only other person I knew with an SCI, and knowing he was out there made me feel less alone. But I’ll be honest, I was hesitant to watch Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, the new documentary available on HBO and streaming on Max. I’ve always felt like there is more to Reeve’s story than has been portrayed in the media, and I worried the documentary would dwell on the same notes: the equestrian accident that caused Reeve to become a quadriplegic, how inspiring he was and his quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries. 

Thankfully, Super/Man doesn’t fall too far into the inspiration porn trap and gives us a fuller look at the man who made people believe he could fly. The film does this by relying on home videos and intimate details from the people closest to Reeve, including his three kids — Matthew, Alexandra and Will. They don’t shy away from revealing some hard truths, like Reeve not being around for a lot of Matthew and Alexandra’s childhood. Reeve had his first two kids with his longtime partner Gae Exton. “The day after I was born, he flew to France and went skiing with friends,” says Matthew in the documentary. Exton, who met Reeve while he was filming Superman, had a front row seat to Reeve’s rise to fame and shares what that was like. 

Some highlights of the doc include Reeve making Superman (a role that he was encouraged not to do because everyone thought that it would be a flop), footage that shows his deep friendship with Robin Williams, and coverage of his relationship with Dana Reeve. Dana tragically died of lung cancer just 18 months after Reeve died in 2004. 

I was pleased to see late disability advocate and quadriplegic Brooke Ellison included in the film. She and Reeve were friends, and Reeve directed a TV movie based on her life, The Brooke Ellison Story. Ellison shares how important Reeve was to the disability movement but at the same time how polarizing he was. In 2000, a commercial aired showing Reeve getting out of his wheelchair and walking, and it caused a lot of backlash. “The concept of cure is a very, very dicey one in the disability community,” says Ellison. 

There are some parts of the film that made me cringe, like when Reeve attends the Oscars less than a year after his accident. As he rolls onto the stage, the celebrity filled audience stands and claps with looks of pity and tears in their eyes. Reeve starts his speech with a joke to try to put them at ease — a tactic that people with disabilities know too well. 

I’m glad I gave Super/Man a chance. The thorough and nuanced look at Reeve’s life and legacy made it an enjoyable and touching watch. A moment from the film that has stuck with me is when Reeve talks about the irony of playing a disabled policeman in the movie Above Suspicion right before he was injured. He prepared for the role at a rehab center, and every time he left it, he said, “Thank God that’s not me.” He reveals that he regretted that because he was setting himself apart from the people there without realizing that at any second that could be him.