Hacker Cinema
The Crash Reel
2013 · Film · documentary · 108 min
Directed by Lucy Walker
An escalating rivalry between snowboarder Kevin Pearce and his nemesis Shaun White in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics leaves Shaun on top of the Olympic podium and Kevin in a coma following a training accident in Park City, Utah. Kevin's tight-knit Vermont family flies to his side and helps him rebuild his life as a brain injury survivor. But when he insists he wants to return to the sport he still loves, his family intervenes. Will Kevin defy them and insist on pursuing his passion? How much risk is too much?
3 positive1 neutralfrom 4 commenters
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7 comments on Hacker News
To be completely honest - my memory for films is terrible, so I struggle to remember why I loved many of these. Also, many of them take unexpected twists and to say why I loved them so much risks ruining part of the surprise. I've watched countless documentaries and in order for them to make this list I have to _really_ enjoy them, and for the most part they require no interest in the subject matter in my opinion - they're just objectively good. So, I'd recommend literally any to start with, but with all that being said, some favourites amongst the favourites:
The Crash Reel - an amazing tale of a person preparing for the olympics, with an unexpected turn and just a very heartwarming/impressive journey - very very highly recommended.
The Cove - follows a whaling event that happens every year, and exposes the savagery of it. However, it's filmed almost like a thriller, in how the team set up to expose the event. Very eye opening, if a little sad, but very very good.
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster - just an amazing documentary about a man who makes amazing film posters - incredible, you'll see that he's responsible for so many recognisable posters from your childhood.
Being Elmo - lovely film about the puppeteer behind Elmo - really heartwarming
13th - very good film about racial injustice in the legal system.
I love documentaries, and these are my favourites. All very worth a watch.
- The Crash Reel
- McConkey
- Buck
- Apollo 11
- Carts of Darkness
- The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
- Samsara
- Baraka
- Brooklyn Castle
- Spellbound
- Drew: The Man Behind the Poster
- Crumb
- The Jinx
- The Art of Flight
- King of Kong
- Indie Game: The Movie
- Capturing the Friedmans
- OJ: Made in America
- The Barkley Marathons
- The Seven Five
- Murderball
- Unbranded
- Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee
- Big River Man
- Hoop Dreams
- Word Wars
- Free Solo
- Long Shot
- Meru
- Being Elmo
- All This Mayhem
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- The Cove
- Project Nim
- Alone in the Wilderness
- Behind the Curve
- The Dawn Wall
- Grizzly Man
- 13th
- Winnebago Man
- Man vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler
- Get Me Roger Stone
- Icarus
- 13th
- Koyaanisqatsi
- The Thin Blue Line
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Oklahoma City
- Virunga
- The Staircase
- Evil Genius
- Undefeated
- Betting on zero
The documentary The Crash Reel is about a snowboarder who gets a traumatic brain injury, but the comments of one of his brothers (who has Down’s syndrome) on his life and on his family form part of it - really interesting to watch
> They can get away with it because it’s such an easy marketing sell- most people think their life is worth more than $250, so any helmet tech is a bet on the order of Pascal’s wager.
I think this is basically accurate. Even if you have zero expectation that either this or MIPS or whatever works, I don't see how anyone who has seen Crash Reel or any of the football-related concussion documentaries could possibly not spring the extra few bucks.
Someone should put together a list of the cheapest or highest expected-value Pascal's wagers. Even things like flossing your teeth are a good example, where it's clearly good for your gum health even though the Cochrane research is equivocal. (Although using a WaterPik is probably better, especially if you do so in addition to flossing.)
Anyway if you haven't seen it, this movie will change the way you think about sports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1hxtjlbTHI
>Personality change after TBIs is not a good thing.
Reminds me of a documentary I saw recently about snowboarder Kevin Pearce called The Crash Reel (2013) [1]. Kevin Pearce was changed by his TBI also but the one I came to think of when you said this was another person that was affected even worse from a TBI they got from a snowboarding accident.
[1]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2499076/
Seems dubious. 50% of American adults have had chronic pain for the last 20 years, but unemployment among men has gone up dramatically in that time.
That said, we should ban companies like Red Bull from sponsoring extreme sports. Every time you see one of those People Are Awesome videos in your Facebook feed there is an entire cohort of permanently disabled kids that went into the making. There is a great documentary called Crash Reel about this.
Great article. I'd also highly recommend the movie Crash Reel, which is also about TBIs. It should be mandatory viewing for any student who wants to play football, snowboard, bike race, etc.