The Waterdance

I loved working on this film with Neal and Michael. It was gold in my hands, and I knew it. Cut on film, the script and performances were superb, and I am so glad to see your reviewer gave Mr. Forsythe his due, as I absolutely loved him in this film. The first day of dailies he came up to me, leaned into me very closely and said "Choices, Jeff, choices", and then walked away. His choices were wonderful, and he won best actor at the Houston Film Festival, and the film took the Audience Award and the Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992. Neal was wonderful to work with, and is still a close friend, and that cannot be said of too many in this fickle town. He wrote a great script, and he and Mike got the performances of a lifetime out of everyone. Eric, Helen Hunt, one of Wesley Snipe's best to this day, and it was wonderful to be a part of the experience that was Neal's life. It was also interesting that Gale Anne Hurd, of action movie fame (Terminator, etc.), chose to produce it and get the film made. When it won at Sundance she threw her arms around me and said "We did it!" Neal, of course, was the man who did it, but it was great to be along on that ride. Jeff Freeman

Author Joel Garcia (Eric Stoltz) is paralyzed after a hiking accident. Anna (Helen Hunt) struggles to choose between her husband and her affair with Joel. Les and Rosa (Elizabeth Peña) are his physical therapists. Other patients include brash womanizer Raymond Hill (Wesley Snipes) trying to reconnect with his family, Victor (Tony Genaro) with a large Latino family, and racist biker Bloss (William Forsythe) looking to sue with his mother (Grace Zabriskie)'s help. Each has trouble dealing with their lives.

Stoltz is restricted physically but performs masterfully. Raymond and Bloss are pretty broad characters. They needed to be toned down slightly. There are some compelling elements. I like Stoltz's take but not everything else is working. The motel room scene is devastating but Helen Hunt probably needs more screen time to show her life with her husband. The material has some greatness but I don't think it's all there.

I know, that's not what you expect from a film with this sort of

lineage- it's a direct descendant of The Best Years of Our Lives

and The Men... films dealing with men who are in the hospital

dealing with tragic circumstances. But this film is full of wonderful

surprises and performances. It features stellar performances from

Eric Stoltz and Helen Hunt (including a rather risque nude scene)

and Wesley Snipes and William Forsythe. As Emanuel Levy wrote

in his book Cinema of Outsiders (about the Independent film

movement) "The Waterdance is coherant, attentive to detail, and

unsentimental with a wicked down to earth humor- it' s at once

funny and sad, and the entire cast is impressive." I was

extraordinarily moved by this film, it's hard hitting yes, but also has

very tender moments and laugh out loud moments. A rare gem.

I flipped by this movie on late night cable and was compelled to watch it. It was about 1:00 am on a work night but I could not bring myself to turn off the TV and go to bed (I am so glad I did not.) I would have to rank this movie in my personal top 5. In spite of its obvious low budget, the story line and the actors/actresses portrayals of their characters is outstanding. I was deeply moved by the compassion of Hunt's character. It is a shame that this movie was released in '92 as it could well be a Box Office smash with today's media promotion. 2 Thumbs to the cast and crew of this masterpiece.

_Waterdance_ explores a wide variety of aspects of the life of the spinally injured artfully. From the petty torments of faulty fluorescent lights flashing overhead to sexuality, masculinity and depression, the experience of disability is laid open.

The diversity of the central characters themselves underscores the complexity of the material examined - Joel, the writer, Raymond, the black man with a murky past, and Bloss, the racist biker. At first, these men are united by nothing other than the nature of their injuries, but retain their competitive spirit. Over time, shared experience, both good and bad, brings them together as friends to support one another.

Most obvious of the transformations is that experienced by Joel, who initially distances himself from his fellow patients with sunglasses, headphones and curtains. As he comes to accept the changes that disablement has made to his life, Joel discards these props and begins to involve himself in the struggles of the men with whom he shares the ward.

The dance referred to in the title is a reference to this daily struggle to keep one's head above water; to give up the dance is to reject life. _Waterdance_ is a moving and powerful film on many levels, and I do not hesitate to recommend it.