With the increasing dangers and illumination of brain injuries in sports, many steps and restrictions are put in place to ensure the safety of athletes. Sometimes, the decisions made are perceived as coddling and taking away from the sport itself, like the NFL, which has done everything in their power to cut down on concussions and head trauma despite fans’ mixed responses to the new rules.
Action sports, from everything from snowboarding to BMX and everything in between, has grown exponentially, both in terms of popularity and exposure to the level of tricks. In saying that, the risk is higher than ever across the board. Unfortunately, many action sports athletes sacrifice their bodies for the sport they love. The Crash Reel is an Academy Award contender about one such athlete and his journey leading up to and following a traumatic brain injury.
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The Crash Reel
Director: Lucy Walker
Rating: N/A
Release Date: December 13, 2013
Kevin Pearce was, at one point in time, one of the best and most popular professional snowboarders alongside Shaun White. However, while training for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Pearce suffered a tragic accident that threatened to end his professional snowboarding career. Told through archival footage from Pearce’s beginnings in the sport to his rehabilitation following the injury, The Crash Reel examines the real life struggles one faces after a life-changing accident.
From slowly having his dreams to return to the sport he loves taken away from him to transitioning into the next stage in his life, The Crash Reel presents Pearce as an everyman to represent life after near-death. Intertwined with Pearce’s stories are stories about other action sports athletes who have faced and, unfortunately, succumbed to traumatic brain injuries, such as famed Women’s freestyle skier and pioneer, Sarah Burke.
As previously mentioned, the documentary features archival footage used to follow Pearce’s journey. Director Lucy Walker created a narrative that highlights Pearce’s rise as a young, aspiring snowboarder, establishing an early friendship-turned-rivalry with fellow snowboarder Shaun White, the meteoric rise in the sport as White’s foil, a projected medal winner at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the trials and tribulations faced following the accident, and the necessary steps to create a new life from there. In past documentary reviews, I’ve noted how a successful documentary can be viewed and weighted by the subject matter and how that topic is analyzed and delivered. A problem I face with them is not being attracted to them if the subject matter doesn’t appeal to me. Of course, the best docs are the ones that gave a universal appeal despite its subject matter; in saying that, it’s a bit hypocritical since the subject matter itself is what will garner appeal.
The Crash Reel may not have the initial attraction to those who aren’t familiar with snowboarding or Kevin Pearce. However, once drawn in, the viewer understands that the documentary may be framed around Pearce’s individual story, but it’s one that can represent and help humanize and generalize the struggles that both an individual and their family faces when attempting to piece their lives back together. By focusing on somebody who was so young and in a somewhat prominent sport, it has a general appeal.
The Crash Reel illuminates the inherent dangers that every snowboarder faces. By using Pearce as the documentary’s focal point, Walker and her team analyze some of the unseen effects a traumatic brain injury have on everybody involved. Pearce’s story isn’t necessarily used as a cautionary tale for others, but instead as a story for perseverance. As a potential Oscar contender, it may be one of the best documentaries I’ve seen this year.
Score: 
8 out of 10