Coming off her Best Picture-winning Coda (2021), Sian Heder has pivoted to continuing her focus on elevating marginalized voices sorely lacking in cinematic representation, this time with the disabled community in Being Heumann. Whilst Coda was more of an intimate family drama revolving around a child of deaf parents, Heder expands her filmmaking skills by delving into a historical drama, as Being Heumann is centered on the real-life story of Judith Heumann, an American disability rights activist, and her famous 1977 Sit-In Protest in implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. That sounds more rote and by-the-numbers, yet Heder infuses the film with far more entertainment value and genuine earnestness to emphasize that movies about civil rights struggles. 

Much like Coda, there’s a sincere earnestness Heder mines, as her characters are vivacious, spirited individuals who have to fight extra hard for the world around them to treat them as equals, rather than “othering” them to the fringes. The screenplay (co-written by Heder and Rebekah Taussig) has a basic template, which the film strictly adheres to, yet the film is never so stiff or wooden that it can’t show these characters as being more endearing and salty with some hard edges than most films would afford. 

It’s especially noteworthy, as Heder uses a cast of actors with disabilities, rather than relying on the tropes of famous people playing those with disabilities. It’s a significant moment for cinema, and one that studios should be cognizant of moving forward, as the people Being Heumann showcases are rarely afforded opportunities to shine.

Despite the passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, it’s been four years since it was signed into law. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) has yet to enforce and deploy the federal regulations of Section 504, which prohibited discrimination against individuals with disabilities in any program that receives federal funding, such as schools, hospitals, housing programs, and local and state government infrastructures (like sidewalks) due to the large spending it would require. As a way to draw attention to this matter, activist Judith Heumann (Ruth Madeley) leads a 100-person sit-in protest in San Francisco’s HEW building for one month, along with a nationwide effort of similar protests at their respective HEW buildings, to pressure the Secretary of HEW, Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo), to sign these provisions, despite the extra $1.5 billion cost. 

The film largely details the arduous and difficult struggles these sit-ins require from Heumann and the disabled community, as many people require special around-the-clock care available outside of their homes, and the total apathy the public has for disabled people in America. Their desire to be taken seriously is only emphasized the longer the sit-ins happen, yet as local police continue to disrupt their protests, food and resources are routinely undercut or cut off (despite the aid of local groups, like the Black Panthers), the film follows the tenacity and commitment Judith asks of her community, and sometimes the blind costs it takes to fight extra hard for basic resources and materials. 

There’s an appeal to see Sian Heder elevate her skills as a director by tackling a well-constructed period film focused on a specific moment in history. Aided by Jamie D. Ramsay’s cinematography and John P. Goldsmith’s production design, there’s a concerted effort to paint 1977’s San Francisco as a vibrant, bustling era. This is integral, as the majority of the film is spent isolated and confined in the federal HEW building they occupy. This once polished, sterile building is transformed into the activists’ living quarters, as mattresses and sex tents are established, bathroom walls with strict spaces for wheelchair users are broken down, and weed smoke and drugs are rampant–as the soul of 60s civil disobedience feels alive and flowing in every frame. 

Sometimes the best filmed biopics focus on a particular piece of history, rather than being a cradle-to-grave story. Especially drawing on the experiences of Heumann and disabled activism through the prism of the 504 Sit-In, Heder wisely doesn’t want the arc of Heumann’s life to outshine this moment of uncertainty and frustration she and many felt for what seemed like a simple request that needed desperate actions. There is a sense of the world being inconvenienced by disabled people (like Judith), showing how much the social norms of decency were still nascent and the treatment of disabled people was glaringly odious. Testimonies from members of the disabled community portray myopic attitudes and perceptions that fuel the drastic actions Judith and others feel are their last stand in fighting for equal protections and treatment. 

Despite a large ensemble of memorable and unique characters, it’s Ruth Madeley’s performance as Judith herself that is the film’s strongest anchor. There are many platitudes and speechifying present throughout, yet it’s Madeley’s unwavering, seamless performance that paints Judith as more complicated than simple. She’s right for what she espouses, yet can clash rather abrasively with her activist friends who want to have a measured approach. For Judith, the time for being passive is over; the only way to get what she and her community need is to be assertive and rough. 

Madeley doesn’t make Judith unlikeable; she has desires and dreams to be more than a loudmouth on wheels, and her tenacity is equal to her aspirations for more. Madeley paints an everlasting portrait of an activist that is alive and soulful, even if her tone can be difficult for moderates who prefer decorum and tradition. In the aftermath of the 1960s counter-revolution, Madeley’s Heumann is a natural evolution to pave new paths forward for disenfranchised people. 

Ruffalo is no stranger to playing sleazeballs, as his turn in Poor Things (2023) demonstrates his range in playing contemptible characters. Yet, Ruffalo’s performance of Califano is anything but contemptible. Despite his stubbornness in spending the entire film singing an important provision for disabled people, his reluctance is more evident of a spineless bureaucrat than anything malicious. The legacy of Califano shows a person who’s been on the right side of history, as Ruffalo proclaims his accomplishments in assisting the Voting Rights Act of 1965, yet dissociates the immediate struggles of disabled people. Ruffalo is not antagonistic, but rather a necessary pencil-pusher to contrast the passionate, plucky nature of Madeley’s Judith. 

Heder isn’t reinventing the wheel, yet her expedited storytelling doesn’t allow much room for the ensemble to grow beyond their quirks and comedic moments. Much of the cast, while wonderfully performed, feels like characters who lack dimensions beyond their relationship with Judith. One character that the film positions as a stark ideologue from Judith is Kitty Cone (Madeline Delp), Judith’s Second-in-Command, who often reins in Judith’s extreme reactions and actions, as she mends the struggles with other activists’ difficulty in following Judith’s decisions, while offering a middle-ground approach.

It’s a unique visualization of two leaders of a similar generation, approaching problems with different temperaments and solutions that would’ve merited more exploration. How does radical change co-exist with harmony? It’s a worthwhile question that Heder touches on, but doesn’t fully grapple. A lot of side characters and relationships don’t fully coalesce, as the film has to balance the main narrative of the mundane, day-to-day building sit-in. 

There’s a certain lineage of films, often described as “eat your vegetables” films. They’re often self-important, prestige-laden films vying for awards, while exploring social issues in a well-intentioned manner. Being Heumann is a tad better than those films, which often flatten their subjects into one-note performances, or condense their subjects into more digestible commodities. Sian Heder’s portrait of Judith Heumann and her community shows a willingness to depict the disabled community as multifaceted people with interiorities of their own, yet they are set aside due to government obstruction and societal disinterest. 

Progress is slow, and Being Heumann shows the slow, glacial pace at which change can be enacted. Not even the struggles when pitted against police forces or threatened with lack of food, but the boredom and sustaining the kind of ethereal hope a movement requires to apply continued pressure and national attention necessary for change. A traditional narrative can still be involving and compelling, as long as the subjects feel tangibly real and genuine, and Ruth Madeley’s performance alone is fantastic as it is infectiously entertaining. 

Review Courtesy of Amritpal Rai