TIFF Review: ‘Being Heumann’ is a Rousing and Crowd-Pleasing Call for Equal Rights

Following up a Best Picture winner is always a challenge for any filmmaker. What do you do for an encore? Sometimes, they have a blank check to pursue a passion project. Other times, they just struggle to recapture the magic. In the case of Siân Heder, she’s managed to follow up CODA with Being Heumann, a similarly crowd pleasing and life affirming work that this time is telling a true story. Playing as the Opening Night title at the Toronto International Film Festival, this is destined to be a work embraced by many.

Being Heumann is a lively and rousing biopic, mixing a heavy dose of humor into a landmark moment in the quest for equal rights for all. At the same time, stakes and emotions of what these activists are after is never lost on you. This movie never becomes a tearjerker, so don’t expect to cry like many did with CODA, but here, there’s a power in knowing that this really happened. At a time when rights are being threatened, seeing how ones were attained in the first place is deeply moving.

In 1977, disabled activist Judy Huemann (Rush Madeley) has had enough. Ever since the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was passed, Section 504, which was the first national civil rights legislation designed to provide protections for people with disabilities, has not been enacted. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) refuses to sign the regulations for Section 504, owing to the cost of retrofitting buildings, streets, and more. Boiling over with frustration, Judy impulsively begins an occupation of a federal building in San Francisco,

Initially dismissed by Califano and those in power, Ruth and her diverse group of marginalized Americans show no signs of leaving. Documented by young reporter Evan White (Dylan O’Brien), they keep the pressure on Califano. What starts in that San Francisco office building eventually gets to Washington DC, with history eventually being made.

Ruth Madeley is a spitfire here, portraying the General of the movement. Willing to go on a hunger strike and tough as nails, her all business demeanor still allows Madeley to inject Judy with lots of personality. The weight of the role is never lost on her, though she’s still able to make it her own. Madeley is best in show, though Mark Ruffalo deserves credit for a turn as the antagonist of the film. He underplays what could have been a broader character, and in doing so, keeps him from being a mustache twirling villain. Dylan O’Brien doesn’t have a ton to do as the young reporter, but he imbues him with an earnestness and determination that make his presence a welcome one. Supporting players here include Ryan Allen, Will Brill, Roberta Colindrez, Rob Delaney, Madeline Delp, Daniel Durant, Ray Fisher, Missy Yager, and more, with much of the cast being disabled actors and actresses.

Co-writer/director Siân Heder, working with co-writer Rebekah Taussig, leans in to how chaotic this moment in time was. Heder and Taussig are looking to entertain as well as inform, so there’s lots of laughs to be had, though never at the expense of the importance of the legislation. One might have wanted a bit more for Ruffalo to do, either to further humanize the character, or to set up more of a conflict between him and Madeley, but it’s a small critique. For the most part, Heder is once again on the money and knows how to warm the heart without resorting to simple cliches.

Being Heumann is certainly not reinventing the wheel, but as far as crowd pleasing biopics go, this one is pretty great. Close to a dramedy with how light a touch the film has, it’s still wildly successful. I suspect this will be one of the best things I see at TIFF this year. Heder has shown that CODA was no fluke, and then some.

SCORE: ★★★1/2