Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: BEING HEUMANN [Toronto International Film Festival - Toronto, Ontario]

The aspect of advocatism is within the eyes of the beholder in some ways. But back in the 70s when both segregation and women’s rights were becoming issues more thoroughly dealt with, the disability factor was still in play but not as the forefront. Sian Heder, who burst on the scene with the remarkable "Coda", approaches an idea in slightly the same vein but with a much wider canvas in "Being Heumann" [Gala Presentations]. "Coda" was made independently while her former collaborators Apple, who got an Oscar winning film, gave her the ride from the beginning here. Like with Troy Kutsur who won the Oscar, Heder casts disabled actors in her lead roles showing the great dynamics they can bring but also representing the roles correctly. Ruth Madeley plays Judy Heumann who is at the crux of the story. She is a willfull and focused woman who is confined to a wheelchair. The film starts showing her activism before transitioning into a time seven years later which serves as the focal point of the film as she and a group of likeminded disabled people stage a sit-in inside a federal building in San Francisco. They trying to get the 504 bill passed which is a disabled act which would eventually a long time later become ADA. Madeley has to be both the bad guy at times but also stalwart. Heder beautifully peppers in the joy of these protestors even as their bodies are giving up on them.

Heumann even goes on hunger strike to try to get the response of Mark Ruffalo who is the head of education and reform under Jimmy Carter. Ruffalo plays the man with a smarmy assuredness knowing that he has helped push through some great reforms but still wants to keep his job. He respects what Heumann does but does his best not to give in and plays the politician game. Madeley's Heumann never gives up but many of her associates including one man who can only speak by pointing to a card steals the show (the key is to show how human and feeling people with disabilities are). Heder understands this power but also related in the Q&A that these actors had to make it their own pointing to how people interrelated (or didn’t) to what the sit in. The sex tent (as an example -- which did happen back in the day) was key. The fight eventually moves to Washington but again it is how persistence, especially with the help of media when it aligns, makes a difference. Dylan O’Brien plays Ethan, a local correspondent who sees this as his story to break but also takes a chance on these people. It is about how things are said and not just how they are seen. Heder again weaves the story and the characterization back and forth including the problem solving needed to make everything come to bear. She also shows through wouid-be arrests and even transportation on planes and from the airport, how woefully inadequate the set up back even in the 70s was to the disabled community. “Being Heumann” was made with the help of Judy Heumann collaborating with Heder though the activist died before the film came fully through to fruition. But it is a testament to what she did but also the way she did it. B+/87%

By Tim Wassberg