The Crash Reel

The Crash Reel, Lucy Walker’s compelling new documentary, has it all: sports rivalry, You’ve Been Framed-style carnage, family drama, and, in Kevin Pearce, an inspiration. In 2010, Pearce was one of the finest snowboarders on the planet. And then, with the Winter Olympics just a few weeks away, it all ended with a brutal wipeout that put him in a coma for six days.

Walker’s movie is a diptych. Part one, composed of archive footage, shows Pearce’s charmed life up until his accident, the good times with his friends on the snowboarding circuit and the thrill of the sport captured through fish-eye lenses. Part two follows Pearce’s recovery and shows his determination to get back on the slopes – and, poignantly, the terror of the people closest to him that he might not be so lucky in his next spill. If this were a Hollywood movie, Pearce would have overcome his adversities and won gold. Real life, as it proves in Walker’s film, is far messier, far more humbling and far more heroic.