Shattering preconceptions
The Olympics may have been postponed until July, but Rising Phoenix shines a spotlight on the athletes of the Paralympics. Kevin Crust reports.
DAYS before the close of the 2012 London Olympics, banners appeared around the city bearing the logo of the soontofollow Paralympic Games and proclaiming, ‘‘Thanks for the warmup.’’ That cheeky, irreverent attitude permeates the Netflix documentary Rising Phoenix, written and directed by Ian Bonhote and Peter Ettedgui.
The film, which spans from the celebratory London Games to the imperiled 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, profiles nine elite athletes (each of whose stories could merit its own documentary) and looks back to chronicle the Games’ fascinating evolution. Started by Dr Ludwig Guttmann, a neurologist, as a oneday event for wounded British soldiers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital to coincide with the 1948 London Olympics, the Games gained momentum with the first official staging in Rome in 1960.
Interviewees who provide context and insight into the contentious political workings and background of the Games include International Paralympic
Committee president Andrew Parsons, former IPC president Sir Philip Craven, former IPC CEO Xavier Gonzalez, Guttmann’s daughter, Eva Loeffler, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, a longtime supporter of disabled athletes.
The Paralympic movement is a celebration of differences. As lanky Australian swimmer Ellie Cole says: ‘‘In the Olympics, all the bodies look the same. In the Paralympics, none of the bodies look the same.’’ The documentary frames these athletes as superheroes and their bodies as magnificent sculptures.
Among them is Italian wheelchair fencer Bebe Vio, whose nickname gives the film its Marvelesque title. A fierce dynamo who lost her arms and legs to meningitis when she was 11, Vio exudes vivacity in her interviews and combines physical grace and lightning fast reflexes in her matches.
Besides Cole, whose leg was amputated as a toddler, and Vio, other athletes featured are stoic French sprinter and long jumper JeanBaptiste Alaize, who lost his legs at age 3 during the Burundian Civil War; British sprinter Jonnie Peacock, who was afforded a pop star’s ovation in London, where he defeated the now notorious Oscar Pistorius; and droll American archer Matt Stutzman, born without arms, who declares that ‘‘a bow just wants to be shot’’ and uses his feet to accomplish the task.
South African sprinter and long jumper Ntando Mahlangu began using carbonfibre ‘‘cheetah’’ blades at age 10 and it changed his life; celebrated Russianborn, Americanraised wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden took up crosscountry skiing to compete in the Winter Games at Sochi in 2014; the lives of Chinese powerlifter Cui Zhe and her family improved after Beijing hosted the 2008 Paralympics, giving disabled people rare visibility in that country; after years of playing wheelchair rugby (aka Murderball), Australia’s Ryley Batt discovered his identity through the sport.
It should surprise noone that Bonhote and Ettedgui previously made McQueen ,a documentary on the late fashion designer.
Rising Phoenix is bursting with a glossy visual style courtesy of director of photography Will Pugh, casting the athletes as gods whose speed, strength and finesse shatter preconceptions the world sometimes foists upon them. Composer Daniel Pemberton’s frenetic rock operalike score embodies their swagger and grit.
For though they face a range of challenges and come from different continents, they share a fierce determination to prove their athleticism. Being disabled is usually the furthest thing from their minds.
‘‘Give us a chance and we’ll show you what we can do,’’ says
Craven of Great Britain, a fivetime Paralympian.
‘‘If not, we’ll make our own chances.’’
For anyone still missing the
Tokyo Olympics, which have been postponed until July,
Rising Phoenix is a fitting bridge for one night, resoundingly demonstrating that an athlete is an athlete.
You will never watch the
Games in the same way.
Rising Phoenix is available to stream on Netflix.