Review of The Crash Reel (2013) by Antonius B — 25 Jan 2016

Sports enthusiast or not - a must see. This documentary captures so many angles of the human spirit and struggle that anyone struggling with addiction, love, parenting etc...will gain valuable insight and strength from this profoundly presented story of a boy whose dream and passion was ended due to an injury performing the very activity that inspired the dream and motivated the passion.

If you look at this documentary and take from it that a snowborder got hurt and now struggles with his desire to get back on his board - you have missed the point and not recognized the complexity of the dynamics at play. For example, I was moved to tears when Kevin's family all got together for a meal (really a scripted intervention) but when his parents and brothers, who admittedly have enabled Kevin to do what he wants when he wants, struggle to tell him that they do not want him to ever snowboard again and that his dream is over, it takes the one member of the family (Kevin's brother who was born with Down's syndrome and ironically suffers on a daily basis intellectually what Kevin now finds himself struggling with in some respects) to state the obvious regardless of Kevin's feeling or reaction to the demand. "we don't want you to do this because we don't want you to die" "we love you" "we don't want you in a wheel chair". Very powerful to see a child do what parents, friends, siblings can't do.

PLEASE SEE THIS.