Reviews on the Movie Without Pity a Film About Abilities
Reviewed by Judy Thomas "Nearly 50 million people in America have some course of inability. From birth, blow, or disease, the disabled have go the largest minority group in the United States, a minority group that anyone might join." These are the thought-provoking words that introduce Without Pity: A Motion-picture show About Abilities. Debuting Tuesday, October 8, 1996, this quietly powerful documentary from HBO's America Undercover series went on to win an Emmy for "Outstanding Informational Special" that year. Christopher Reeve narrated the one-hr picture show merely did not appear on photographic camera, proverb that he didn't want his presence to distract from the compelling stories of the disabled individuals who are profiled hither. Without Pity was produced, written and directed past Michael Mierendorf, whose previous America Undercover documentaries for HBO include 1993'south Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories and 1991'due south Losing Information technology All: The Reality of Alzheimer's Affliction. The people profiled in Without Pity: A Picture About Abilities represent a cantankerous-department of disabled individuals struggling against daunting obstacles to gain control of their lives. An HBO publicity release describes them as follows: Samantha -- Disabled past cerebral palsy since birth, Samantha was married to Jay (who is not disabled) in an idyllic outdoor ceremony. Living in a small apartment, Samantha studies for a communications degree, and articulates through a special calculator that translates her typed words into spoken sounds. Her biggest goal is to be a mother -- a goal she fulfills. Unfortunately, partly every bit a issue of the strain of caring for both wife and daughter, Jay somewhen separates from Samantha, who moves in with her mother. The couple has since worked out a custody organization for their daughter. Frank -- Institutionalized past his father for twoscore years, Frank is a 74-twelvemonth-onetime person with cerebral palsy who now lives lonely in a pocket-sized town exterior Denver, and is a familiar sight on the local streets every bit he moves around in a wheelchair. Remembering his life at the Colorado Home for the Mentally Defective, Frank (who was labeled mentally incompetent) never understood why he was put away, and recalls leaving against his begetter'south wishes. Anna, a former employee of the dwelling who helped relocate Frank years ago, is seen paying her one-time patient a visit; Frank panics at starting time, thinking she's come to return him to the institution. Josh -- 8 months ago, 25-year-old Josh was studying for career in ecology protection when a motorcycle accident "changed everything." Now a quadriplegic who lives with his sis, Josh's frustration is clear. In improver to losing his self-sufficiency, Josh also lost his girlfriend, with whom he had hoped to build a life and family. To get through the solar day, Josh admits, "I have to put on a facade for people... If I had to let out the anger inside, nobody would want to be around me." Josh'due south struggles mirror those of the narrator, who says, poignantly, "In i fateful moment, a swain'south destiny changed. And he cannot imagine his life ahead. His mind and spirit endure along with his torso. Information technology is the incomprehensible loss of spinal string injury." However, Josh goes on to get his caste. Andrew -- At a trade show unveiling new products for the disabled, a father puts his brain-damaged son Andrew in a small electrical auto controlled by buttons. As his son delightedly takes a turn around the floor, the father cries in seeing the intense joy in his son'southward face. Paul -- Paul was disabled past polio at age five. At present 49, he's a university professor who teaches the history and social problems of the disabled. As Paul teaches, this history is filled with discrimination and persecution, from the utilize of hospital gas chambers to eliminate the kickoff grouping of "undesirables" in Nazi Germany, to the institutions that for years housed the disabled. Josh -- Josh was maimed and blinded at age four when a deranged man poured sulfuric acid on his head. Today, forty plastic surgeries later, with a reconstructed face up and one glass eye, Josh has a full-time job, and works on the Cyberspace through a computer that translates written words into spoken language. "As a disabled person, I am living in one of the most exciting revolutions that has ever happened," he says. In interviews to promote the film, Christopher Reeve said he believes his situation is nothing compared to the problems faced by the people in this documentary. Without Pity points out that despite laws confronting discrimination, 70 percent of disabled individuals are unemployed and many are forced to live in poverty. They have been "segregated from lodge, shunned by a culture that judges human worth by physical perfection. They are uneasy reminders of human fragility." Reeve said if there was one thing people could have with them afterwards watching the film, information technology would be that people should expect at the disabled every bit human being beings who accept a lot to teach the rest of us. And that they are entitled to live productive lives in the mainstream of our culture. While all of the stories are moving, like Christopher Reeve, I was particularly afflicted by the segment on Charlie Gentry, a little male child born without arms or legs. "When I saw the picture for the first time and I saw Charlie, it bankrupt my heart. I could barely watch," Reeve said. "But as you encounter the picture, you will run into his forcefulness." It's truthful. Here is a child who without his wheelchair has to move by rolling beyond the flooring like a sausage. Nevertheless as you watch him in the playground with his best friend (who met Charlie by tripping over him), play a video game using his i appendage: a vestigal foot, or assistance his mom make dinner, yous realize what a normal, happy, kid he is. He and the others are powerful examples of how "disabled people are tired of beingness invisible and are declaring their right to an equal gamble at life. They desire to be understood and recognized for who they are, for their humanity... without compassion." If y'all accept a dry centre after watching this Christopher Reeve-narrated documentary, you may desire to cheque for a pulse. It profiles a cross-section of Americans who live with various disabilities, portraying all every bit individuals who want zip more than independence and admission to club. John Levesque, Seattle Post-Intelligencer The disabled, he (Reeve) says, "are uneasy reminders of human being fragility." Not the least of these reminders, of course, is Reeve. Though never addressing his own paralysis or appearing on-camera, he thus serves the moving picture not just as a familiar vox but as one more than instance of what information technology's almost. Frazier Moore, The Detroit News Back to the top Without Pity: A Film About Abilities (1996)
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