You'll Believe A Man Can Fly

Christmas Eve, a friend of mine and I watched the new documentary on the life of Christopher Reeve…a man who played Superman about as well as anyone ever could, then sustained a crippling injury and lived what remained of his life about as heroically as anyone ever could. I liked it but maybe not the mood it put me in afterwards. I felt so very sorry for him but also for those who suffer from similar problems and don't have his money, his celebrity, his fan base, loving friends and family, etc. For what it's worth, I met Mr. Reeve once pre-accident and for the five or so minutes I was around him, he was exactly the person the documentary makes him out to be.

Like so many documentaries, the film could make all its points and convince you of everything it wants to convince you of in about ten minutes but it runs way longer — an hour and 44 minutes in this case. Still much of the footage, especially his post-accident appearance at the Academy Awards and the scenes involving his close friend Robin Williams, is fascinating. My friend also enjoyed it but she too felt is got repetitive at times.

It's available all over the Internet and you may be able to view it for free on some streaming service to which you subscribe. We watched it, sans additional fee, on my pay-per-month version of YouTubeTV. If you do watch and partway through, it isn't holding your interest, hang in to the end. Very much worth your time.