Five years ago, Sian Heder’s CODA emerged as the most popular film to premiere at Sundance, but nobody expected it to connect with people the way it did throughout the year. Eventually winning the Oscar for Best Picture, the film stuck with people who had never before considered the complex lives of those living with hearing disabilities. Now, Heder is back with another crowd pleaser that is sure to connect with audiences in the same way, Being Heumann, a joyful adaptation of the memoir by Judith Heumann, leader of the Disability Rights Movement.
Played by Ruth Madeley (who suffers from spina bifida), Judith Heumann is an indomitable force in the fight to secure equality for disabled Americans. Working out of San Francisco, she’s determined to see the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, passed by Congress in 1973 without many of them knowing what it was. As the first federal civil rights protections for disabled people, the costs to put the new regulations into action would be astromonical, and something U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) was unwilling to do, fearing for his job.
You’d think that everyone would be in support of adding wheelchair ramps to federal buildings, or regulating the height of sidewalks, would be something everyone could champion. But…have you seen the world out there? Y’know, the one where we have a President who openly mocks disabled people for sport? It wasn’t so different back in 1973, either, when people were more worried about the budget than simple human decency and kindness.
Heder, who co-wrote the script with Rebekah Taussig, isn’t shy about portraying Heumann as a flawed leader of the movement. Her walls are constantly up, she’s labeled an asshole by more than one of her supporters, and constantly fights with her more sensible colleague, Kitty Cone (Madeline Delp), a soft-spoken activist with muscular dystrophy. Heumann is a real firebrand, though, the kind that makes things happen when others can’t. Despite her disability, she’s also shown to be keenly aware of her sexuality; “Show your cleavage and cry”, she would say before going out to hold a press conference or speak at a hearing.
Being Heumann follows Heumann’s leadership during the 1977 504 Sit-In, where she and a large group of protestors took over federal buildings around the country to force Califano to sign the regulations. One thing the film does extremely well is show how disabilities affect people across all walks of life, and sometimes it can lead to conflicts within the community. The deaf aren’t always fighting for the same things as the blind, or those with MS, or mental disabilities. The movement also brought in supporters from unexpected places. Antwan Tolliver impresses as Brad Lomax, a member of the Black Panther Party diagnosed with MS, who uses his stature within the group to assist in Heumann’s movement.
It’s suggested that people want to keep the disabled hidden from view, because they fear becoming one of them someday. Anyone can become disabled at any time, from an accident or an illness, and that should be a uniting factor, not something that tears us apart.
Ruffalo plays Califano as a man stuck between a rock and a hard place. While he’s definitely the “villain” of the movie, Califano isn’t really a bad guy. In fact, the film goes out of its way to show that he’s been an activist supporting civil rights causes in the past, although he sorta sounds like a racist saying “Some of my best friends are black” as he defends himself. Califano thinks what he’s doing is right for the country, even if his stance against Heumann could destroy the legacy he’s built.
At the screening I attended here at TIFF, the crowd frequently exploded into cheers with each inspiring moment. It’s a film that seems like a shoo-in for the People’s Choice Award, often a bellwether for the Best Picture Oscar race. When Apple releases Being Heumann into theaters and Apple TV+ this November, it’s sure to be a winner with audiences everywhere, and will strike a chord with those who are living with the benefits of Judith Heumann’s tireless efforts.
