'Being Heumann' Is an Amiable Disability Rights Drama That Could Have Been More Daring

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 guarantees that Americans with disabilities will be able to participate, without discrimination, in all federal programs. But implementing this law wasn’t exactly a priority for the Nixon or Carter administrations. Many institutions dragged their feet over ensuring easy access for wheelchair users or interpreters for the dead, hoping to avoid a hefty payout. In 197x, furious with the deliberate inaction, a group of disability activists decided to make the country notice with a sit-in. Among their ranks was the legendary Judy Heumann.

Sian Heder’s followup to CODA shares a lot of DNA with that divisive Best Picture winner. Being Heumannis another crowd pleasing mainstream drama about disabled life that seems to have been engineered to be the most appealing-to-all film of the season. Where it crucially differs is in perspective. Many viewers dinged CODA for centering the hearing person in a dead family, leaving a murderers row of deaf acting talent to the fringes of the narrative. Mercifully, Being Heumann is highly unconcerned with the concerns of the scant few non-disabled characters in the way. Indeed, this is a film with a near-majority disabled cast. Critic Kristen Lopez says it might be the first of its kind since Tod Browning’s Freaks. It only took 90-odd years.

Heumann gets the title pun and the lion’s share of attention from Heder. Played by Ruth Madeley with a sparky energy and proud attitude (and a verty good Brooklyn accent from a Mancunian), she’s committed to the cause and an eager de facto leader of the gang that takes over the federal building by her command. Judy knows she’s prickly and refuses to soften her image to placate those who would ignore her anyway. Someone has the be the radical, the loudmouth, the asshole. Great movements are built on the work of those who can be the most effectively irritating.

The work of activism makes up the meat of the film’s most interesting qualities. The semi-spontaneous sit-in requires a ton of labour, particularly when most of the participants need daily assistance. It’s a community effort, with the Black Panthers providing food and outsiders acting as messengers to the media. Making a scene is the only option left. Those in power have gone years without ever having to acknowledge their existence. That’s the attitude of Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo, the token big-name actor to bring commmercial clout to this cast of largely unknowns), the United States secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. While Califano has a stellar reputation in fighting for other groups’ rights, he can’t shake off his politician duties with the disabled activists who won’t stop calling his office.

While it’s Heumann on the poster, this is not a traditional biopic. We don’t get flashbacks to her childhood or the activism she did prior to the sit-in. This is about one moment in history and it’s stronger for it, but it does make the lack of development for the other activists more glaring. It should feel more like an ensemble piece given that the message of the story is the power of community. Why not give us more from the perspectives of Kitty Cone, Brad Lomax, and Ed Roberts, all of whom are legends in disability activism? We have a great cast of unfamiliar faces who are more than up for the task but left to the sidelines. The film seems adrift when it has to move away from Judy, which proves antithetical to the core theme. Moreover it leaves even Judy feeling half-formed in her character. Sure, she’s sharp-witted and no-nonsense, firing off some good one-liners and taking control of any stuation, but what is she beyond her activism? In one moment, a fellow protestor calls her out for forcing her way to a leadership role without letting anyone else make that choice. Yet the film is so keen to make her that emblem and keep her on that pedestal.

When Being Heumann has to move bryond the fight, it loses its groove and becomes more generic. The humanity of the fight is where we want to stay, but Heder must bring to the forefront the messaging, and her only approach to that is one of bare-bones speeches and big well dones. It feels so polite, which is something Heumann and company were never particularly concerned with. Such is the conundrum of making films about a marginalized group for the widest audience possible. Losing your edge is sort of the point.

Being Heumann had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will be released in cinemas on 6 November and on Apple TV on 13 November.