Covering the triumphs and
tragedies of Kevin Pearce, The Crash Reel
is a surprisingly emotional documentary. As in I was literally wiping away a
few traitorous tears in the theater, along with several other members of the
audience. The sadness stems not from the accident itself, though that was
brutal and upsetting to watch, but from seeing a man with such athletic
potential struggle to find a new identity after a future that had been so
clearly defined is so completely taken away.
The editing in The Crash Reel is flawless. With footage
from over 200 sources, from snowboarding competitions to Olympics coverage to
news footage to home videos from the Pearce family, it's all seamlessly combined
into a film and looks like everything belongs together. The storytelling begins
with Kevin at the top of his game, preparing for the Vancouver Olympics, then
tragedy strikes at Park City, and he's in the hospital with a traumatic brain
injury. From there, the film goes back to detail how Kevin came to become such
a fantastic snowboarder who was on par with and even beating Shawn White in
competitions. The film follows Kevin through rehabilitation and as he struggles
to accept that perhaps he cannot return to competitive snowboarding and what
that future looks like.
Perhaps the best part of The Crash Reel has nothing to do with
the cinematography, editing style, or music, it's that the Pearce family is
brutally honest on camera about their efforts to adapt after the accident and
learning what a traumatic brain injury entails. As this documentary clearly
shows, TBI doesn't just affect the person injured, it affects everyone. The Crash Reel is a story of tragedy,
and eventually, it turns into a story of acceptance.
