Review of new documentary film…
ELLA GLENDINING’s first feature length documentary is a powerful argument against the ableism she finds pretty much everywhere and which is beautifully documented in her, ‘Is There Anybody Out There?’.
A very personal film, it covers her experience of having a very rare disability – in effect she has short legs and uses a wheelchair. She advises against the use of medical terminology and with very good reason.
This is a sort of video diary which has a driving purpose to find other people like herself and document their experience of life too.
A filmmaker by background, she has loving and supporting parents whose experience of looking after when she was young is also covered in this film. There is touching home video included.
What comes through most strongly – is that they treated her like any child – exposing her to the rough and tumble of childhood with only the necessary precautions. It was all pretty normal and you can see how Glendining has developed confidence and belief from it.
And she takes that into the world and it is empowering and inspiring in itself.
She is living life on her own terms and coming out the other side, showing just how liberating it can be as a disabled person.
There is tendency for most societies to box off disability and put it in a corner and forget about it all.
This is the kind of ableism Glendining directs most of her fire at – it includes the medical community who want to ‘fix’ people like her – they don’t need fixing, she shows.
But she is gentle and inquisitorial – not confrontational and that is important…
The main purpose of the film is to show her search for other people like herself – in between we get a snapshot of her life at that time just before and then going into the global pandemic.
She embarks on a new relationship and ends up having a baby and this is all part of the documentary.
Connecting with others in the US with very similar disabilities, she goes out there to talk to them and share experiences.
There, she also meets a surgeon who is pretty sure he can ‘fix’ people like her – these operations are best done when folks are very young.
She goes through the arguments and interviews people and parents who have decided for whatever reason, it isn’t for them and meets a Youtube star whose disability is very much part of who he is and isn’t going to change himself to conform with the expectations of others.
This is a very eye-opening documentary – not just for the way it takes into you into disability but all sorts of majority or traditional practices that are often (self) defeating and discriminatory but we don’t see or don’t understand that our majoritarianism is the issue – not a person’s disability or different way of looking at the world.
At the same time, Glendining’s film is not preachy or in your face at all – it is entertaining, informative, funny and emotional – for all the good reasons.
Do watch it if you can – we are pretty sure you will learn from it and start to look at disability differently, depending on your experience and encounters with people with disabilities prior to this.
Star rating ***** (five out of five)
‘Is There Anybody Out There?’ is out in UK cinemas now… (from November 17) – 87 minutes
It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Competition 2023 Awards.
Awards: FIPRESCI International Film Critics Prize / The Silver Horn, Krakow Film Festival /’Be the Change’ Award, Biografilm Festival / Winner of BFI and Chanel Filmmaker Award 2023 / BIFA nominated for Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary.
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