A One Mann’s Movies review of “Being Heumann”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4.5*, NR).
When Sian Heder rocked the movie world on March 27th 2022 by winning Best Picture with only her second feature, CODA, the world wondered “what next”? The answer has taken 5 years to appear, and it is Being Heumann, a punning title based on the autobiography of the disability activist Judy Heumann, who died in March 2023. As for CODA, it is an assured directorial triumph and also, like CODA, will – I predict – be a real crowd-pleaser and another hit for Apple.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Based on a true story, the film recreates the battle between government officials and activists for disability rights, culminating in their 28-day takeover of San Francisco’s Federal Building in 1977.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 15 based on some discussions of sex and strong language.)
Talent:
Starring: Ruth Madeley, Madeline Delp, Mark Ruffalo, Dylan O’Brien, Rob Delaney,Andrew Pilkington.
Directed by: Sián Heder.
Written by: Sián Heder & Rebekah Taussig.
Running Time: 2h 7m.
Review:
Positives:
- Judy Heumann (Ruth Madeley) was clearly a remarkable person: stubborn, strong willed and never one to take “No” for an answer. Checking out her history, she was Brooklyn born but contracted polio at the age of 2 (you know, that once prolific and terrible disease that Robert F Kennedy Jr. wants to stop vaccinating US kids for. Yeah, that one.) That landed her in a wheelchair for life. In the form of British-born Ruth Madeley (who is also a disability rights campaigner) she is vividly brought to life. It is an astonishingly vibrant performance. It would not surprise me one jot to see her end up on the list of Best Actress nominations come Oscar time. She really nails the New York accent and delivers her lines with acerbic wit: when she first meets Kitty Cone (Madeline Delp) she comments on her neckwear “I didn’t know socialists wore pearls”.
- We see Judy’s grit and determination as a “radical crip” (their language, not mine) early in the film when she is wheeling her wheelchair down the traffic lanes because there are no dropped curbs for her to use. Then, in order to leverage her protest, she rolls her wheelchair out into the traffic triggering a major roadblock. It’s a great scene.
- You could argue that CODA rather cheated in having the main character (the “C” of CODA) as an able bodied individual (Emelia Jones’s Ruby). There is no such issue in this film, since all of the main characters involved in the sit-in are disabled in one way or another: some, like Hale Zukas (Andrew Pilkington), are highly disabled. They all want to change the status quo, commenting that disabled people are not “included in the American Dream”. The secret is section 504 of a key bill: “Sign 504” becomes a regular chant. The scenes of them occupying the San Francisco federal building, risking their health and in some cases their lives, by going without their normal care facilities, is very moving. In one powerful scene, the demonstrators give their own personal stories to Congressman Miller (Rob Delaney) and a terrified staffer of Califano who tries to flee mid-conference! (A scene where Delaney slips on the floor chasing him out of the conference room, falling on his ass, looks like a blooper that Heder decided was too good to not leave in the film!)
- The other half of the film has us following poor old Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) who is new into his post at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington. He gets bombarded (comically) by calls from Heumann, but never takes them. As the snowball starts to roll, he is also pursued by the media, the very persistent Congressmen Miller and can’t even find escape at home: at one point as he stands frustrated in his office I was reminded of that scene in Airplane!: “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking”. Ruffalo does a great job with the role and the script also serves him well. Whilst we know what the script really wants him to do, we can also appreciate the number of different plates he is spinning: especially the $2.4 billion he would require to implement the demands.
- The vibes of 1977 run through the film wonderfully… we can see the the remnants of the free-and-easy 60’s vibe are still alive and well in San Francisco: from the weed smoking to the sex tent! All of this is captured through the lens of a sympathetic journalist Evan White (Dylan O’Brien) of the local KGO-TV station. The smell of insurrection is in the air and change is required. When the Black Panthers are enabled to bring in trays of food for the demonstrators, they are quizzed by the FBI “What’s in the trays”. “Fried Chicken, hot potatoes, freedom” comes the reply, a great line.
- I loved the irony that the police vans and the prisons couldn’t be used to arrest many of the demonstrators because they were not access friendly! (“We should rob a bank” they say!) There is also a brilliant irony to the fact that Califano himself becomes partially disabled due to his own stupidity.
Negatives:
- I’ve very little to say here. Some might find the drama a bit overly-twee and saccharine.
Summary Thoughts:
A really terrific film, documenting a key moment in history in the US for disabled people. Expect this one to feature significantly in the upcoming Oscars. Could this even be 2 out of 3 for Heder?
The film is set to stream on Apple from November 13th.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The teaser trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9INUY8uKRyU.
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