To mark the 20th anniversary since the death of Christopher Reeve, this very moving documentary launched in September 2024. It features candid home footage and interviews with Reeve’s now fully grown children, alongside insights into his iconic career.

If you know anything about the actor, you’ll also know the extent of the devastating injury he suffered during a May 1995 horse riding accident.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story explores his mental health and activist battles to deal with his disability, all whilst maintaining his family life. The documentary does cover some very dark territory, but there’s an uplifting message here and Reeve’s foundation continues to promote medical advancements in paralysis.

Moving Tribute to a Movie Star Legend in the Christopher Reeve Story

Back in 1995 we were still at primary school, but we do remember the news stories regarding Christopher Reeve. We also remember the lad in our class, Ian, joking that, “Superman is in a wheelchair now.”

Kids can be cruel, of course, but those comments stuck with us. As did Reeve’s story and we remember our shock upon hearing of his passing in October 2004 (at that point, we were studying at university).

Shoot back to 1978 and Christopher Reeve was just another struggling stage actor in America. However, he got the chance to audition for Superman at a London studio and he bagged the role.

He was perfect for the role and no Superman actor since has managed it with such panache.

Reeve had it all—very handsome bloke, bags of charisma, and he was a fully trained actor. He’d studied at Juilliard with training from the legendary John Houseman. The result was this!

The film was a surprise sensation, featuring landmark special effects, a believable love story for the audience to get behind, and Reeve added genuine acting heft to the role.

Placed alongside household names like Gene Hackman and Marlon Brandon, the film overnight launched Reeve to superstardom.

It’s clear from The Christopher Reeve Story he was a very charming bloke. He easily took to fame and had a fantastic way with people and was loved by everyone who met him.

But fame wasn’t all rosy as Reeve was immediately typecast as Superman.

He tried many other acting roles to prove himself, but few of the movies were commercially successful. This forced him back to successive Superman films, with the final one in 1987 (Superman IV: The Quest for Peace) a notorious disaster.

As his Hollywood career began trailing off, he continued trying new roles. This included the 1995 film Above Suspicion. In it he played a police officer who is paralysed mid-film and left using a wheelchair. For the role, he’d spent time speaking to wheelchair users to understand their daily lives.

Just six days after the film launched, Reeve had his horse riding accident.

This documentary’s directors, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, have worked hard to make family the core of the work.

Reeve was a dedicated family man to his three children William, Alexandra, and Matthew, plus wife Dana Reeve. She really was a force of nature, managing her husband’s disability needs whilst balancing raising three kids. It’s often forgotten amongst her husband’s injury and activism, but she developed lung cancer 10 months after he died. She passed away suddenly in March 2006 aged just 44.

She wasn’t a smoker, it’s believed passive smoking may have contributed to her condition. She used to sing in clubs, back in the days when indoor smoking was allowed.

The Christopher Reeve Story is as much a tribute to her strength of character and tenacity as it is to her husband. You watch this documentary and come out of it with immense respect for what she achieved with such grace.

Reeve’s Paralysis Activism

The other side to this documentary is remembering the Reeve family’s (ongoing) activism. Prior to his injury, Reeve backed many environmental campaigns. Post-injury he founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation to focus on paralysis assistance and recovery for people across America and the world.

His foundation continues to this day, supported heavily by his children, and its work has seen many advances—we’re at a point now where some people with paralysis have been able to walk again.

As the documentary covers, Reeve was pretty uncompromising and heroic in championing this cause—he wasn’t put off by anything, especially with his focus on stem cell research (which caused outrage amongst the conservative right in America).

You do also get the clear sense of loss he endured through quadriplegia. Not being able to raise his kids the way he wanted. He was a very athletic man, who was always engaged in some sporting occasion. But he did note his injuries forced him to approach life in new ways, coming to realise his communication skills could steer has family as much as his physical activities used to.

Interestingly, the documentary also remembers his close friendship with Hollywood legend Robin Williams. They were so close Reeve considered Williams a brother.

And Williams was the man who brought Reeve back from the brink of total despair in the immediate aftermath of his accident. He’d dressed up as a doctor, covered his face, put on a silly voice, and demanded to perform a rectal examination on the stricken Reeve. He saw the funny side and for the first time since his accident he laughed.

You can see in other films like this, perhaps most notably the Michael J. Fox documentary Still (2023), the importance of family and friends.

Fox’s family life has held him together and the same was true with Reeve.

With family, friends, and fans rallying behind him, the final stage of his life took on a different focus. One more important than appearing in any superhero film—The Christopher Reeve Story captures that perfectly.

Critical Reception to The Christopher Reeve Story

Super/Man received universal praise from critics. You’ll be hard pushed to find someone who won’t be moved by this film and we do think it’s an appropriate way to mark 20 years since he died.

Frankly, we also think Dana Reeve deserves her own documentary for all the incredible characteristics she presented. The pair very brave, rather noble—this work displays a great deal of integrity from them. It’s difficult to think of a more fitting way to pay tribute.

So, yes, this is an excellent documentary and one of the best of 2024.

Just brace yourself before heading in. As you’d expect from this one, it’s an emotional time of it. But the directors have taken great care to pay a lot of compassion and respect, whilst also carving a message of hope to the people of the world.

An attribute Reeve and his family wanted to embody in the wake of his accident.