Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
Directed by: Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui
Premise: A biography of actor Christopher Reeve, best known for playing Superman in the 1970s and 80s. The documentary covers Reeve’s acting career and his activism on behalf of disabled people.
What Works: Christopher Reeve was a beloved public figure and the documentary Super/Man is a tribute to the man and his legacy while also including moments of honesty and revelations of fallibility. Reeve was known for playing Superman in the films of the 1970s and 80s. Several generations of moviegoers considered Reeve their Superman and for many Reeve’s performance is the definitive Man of Steel due to the mix of strength, dignity, and charm that he brought to the role. In 1995 Reeve suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed and breathing with a ventilator. The image of this beloved actor in a debilitated state was all the more shocking because of Reeve’s public image as Superman. One of the interesting qualities of this documentary is its examination of the power of images. Superman is an internationally recognized symbol and for the public Reeve was indistinguishable from that image. Our association of Superman with strength and heroism gets redefined when the actor most associated with that character was paralyzed. That conception of heroism was further redefined as Reeve campaigned for research into treatments and public accommodations for people with disabilities. However, Super/Man is also about who Reeve was as a man with a lot of emphasis on his family. Reeve was a flesh and blood person with flaws and the documentarians and the commentators testify to all that. This holistic view of Reeve is especially relevant to his life with paralysis. The documentarians track his post-accident evolution as a patient but also as an activist and a family man.
What Doesn’t: Reeve’s acting career outside of Superman is mostly glossed over. The documentarians are most interested in Christopher Reeve’s family life and his activism on behalf of people with disabilities. Although Super/Man is mostly even handed, it needs to be understood as partly a promo reel for the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation which promotes research and treatment for paralysis and other neurological disorders. The film acknowledges the controversy of a 2000 commercial for Nuveen Investments which used special effects to create the illusion of Reeve recovered and walking. As depicted in the documentary, that ad was controversial, in part because it was accused of giving paralyzed people false hope, but also because there is a portion of that community who regard treatment as reinforcing a negative view of disabled people and cures as a form of erasure. The documentary doesn’t delve meaningfully into this controversy or its implications for Reeve’s legacy.
Disc extras: Not available on disc. The film is available on various streaming services.
Bottom Line: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is an enlightening documentary. It’s an emotionally satisfying tribute to the late actor and activist but it is also a thoughtful consideration of celebrity, life with disabilities, and how we conceive of heroism.
Episode: #1057 (July 20, 2025)