In the opening moments of Siân Heder’s Being Heumann, a young woman in a wheelchair rides in the middle of a busy street with an imposing bus honking its horn behind her. She raises her middle finger but doesn’t turn her head back to look as this hulking piece of city transit cannot get around her. That image makes an impression, for sure, as the scene is featured on the first promotional materials for Heder’s follow-up to her Oscar-winning CODA. The visual that I kept thinking about in this sequence, though, is when we cross the street with Judy Heumann, the young disability rights activist, as the camera’s viewpoint shifts to her. We see the waists and stomachs of morning commuters crossing the street as they breeze by her in their heavy winter coats. We don’t see their faces as they pass her, and that perspective is exactly what Heder’s film wants us to understand immediately. Many of us have not considered to put ourselves in Heumann’s shoes, but Heder does it within the very first scene. It’s unfathomable how those in charge ignore the plight of many who cannot move their bodies up onto a city sidewalk or need a little extra care in order to communicate. Heder’s Being Heumann is the definition of a crowd pleaser, a true story that proves that real strength radiates from within.
We are reunited with Judy a few years after the events in the opening sequence, but little has been done to further the rights for people with disabilities. Even after the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 passed, Jimmy Carter’s administration hasn’t done anything to facilitate any meaningful change. The bill sits unsigned, and all it would take to put it into action would be the signature of Mark Ruffalo’s Joseph Califano Jr., the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to enact Bill 504, which would guarantee equal protections and access to education. While he claims to sympathize with the plight of the people banging down his door, he insists that it’s a billion dollar problem. The country would have to rip up sidewalks and make drastic changes to buildings in order to bring them up to code. Being Heumann never lets us forget that some politicians don’t want to spend funds even if it would feed the solution to make everything equal for everyone. Have we always put dollars before the livelihood of others? With so much of our current social consciousness being occupied by billionaires, you cannot help but think about how some regard money as it relates to human life.
The focus of most of Heder’s film comes when Heumann and other activists coordinate another protest at the HEW’s San Francisco office as other groups in major cities coordinate simultaneous demonstrations. With the news watching them (led by Dylan O’Brien’s Evan White, who goes from dismissive to compassionate), the group makes their way inside the building when they sense that they are going to get brushed off, and it begins the largest sit-in on American history. There is something electric watching Ruth Madeley’s Judy in total command, especially after an earlier scene shows how Judy has to wait for a caretaker to aid her to do small things around her own home–like go to the bathroom first thing in the morning. Madeley’s voice booms throughout the entirety of Heder’s film–you listen and you watch with amped anticipation.
I wondered if Heumann and Califano could recognize the determination in the other while they battle each other out from a distance. After the group takes over HEW’s San Francisco location, they try to shut off the water inside the building and even threaten with police intimidation as the secretary grows more and more frustrated that more people don’t understand how more people aren’t more sympathetic to his reasoning. Having Ruffalo portray Califano is a curious choice since the actor is so outspoken on so many social issues, but seeing him reckon with destroying his own legacy is rather fascinating.
When the film invites you to sit in with the rest of the protesters, the film expands to fit a wider, vigorous scope, and Heder’s screenplay works diligently to provide as many viewpoints as possible. This filmmaker never assumes that her film represents everyone, but a key scene, where different factions of the group argue over what they want and what the sit-in represents, is one of the most compelling moments. Maybe the deaf participants don’t feel like they are being given enough space? Who is the face of the movement, and how do they craft how and how deeply they communicate with those on the outside. Being Heumann is not just a recreation of a moment but a reminder that protest is held strongest by the links of community found within it.
Madeley is a mighty presence, and I kept wondering about how much pressure she puts on herself. We see her Judy quite literally fighting for her life, but also just to be seen. In one key moment, she bickers with her friend, Madeline Delp’s Kitty Cone, who she calls a Pollyanna without thinking that other tactics of protest can meld together for an even more effective approach. Madeley finds Heumann’s gumption and cleverness with lively precision–she’s marvelous.
Some might dismiss Heder’s film as conventional, but how can you say that when you have never seen this level of representation on screen? She fills the screen with so many viewpoints, so many different actors, and so much compassion that your heart feels almost overwhelmed.
Being Heumann debuts in select theaters on November 6. It premieres exclusively on Apple TV on November 13.
