An inspirational story about Robert Cavendish who became ill with polio in 1958 at the age of 28. His life could have been so very different without the support of his wife of 2 years, Diana, without the desire to live to see his son, Jonathan, grow up, and without the genius of Professor Teddy Hall of Oxford University who devised the contraptions which gave Robert, who was quadraplegic, some kind of life. Certainly, back in the 60s, those like Robert were spending what few years they had left flat on their backs in hospitals, on ventilators, no more than prisoners of institutions and their own bodies. Much is said about Cavendish's pioneering approach to survival, his fortitude and willingness to do and maybe die, but I would like to have seen a little more focus on Teddy Hall because without that man's ingenuity, Robert Cavendish and thousands of people in the same or similar situation back then might have led very different existences. This is directorial debut of Andy Serkis and he is to be congratulated for it. He has another in the pipeline, Mowgli, a version of Jungle Book following closely on the heels of Jungle Book (2016). The casting of Breathe was superb and I was seriously impressed by Andrew Garfield's performance. Loved Hugh Bonneville as Teddy Hall. The story is loaded with emotional scenes which range from highly hilarious to downright sad. It might be a bit of a tear-jerker at times but it is very much worth watching at least once, or twice. Interestingly, I read an article which said that Professor Christopher Cooper of the University of California believes Stephen Hawking had polio rather than motor neuron disease.
Review of Breathe
