Sunshine Superman

There's an interesting charm of defying gravity and plummeting oneself from extreme places, swirling away from the nature, crowd and traffic below. Sunshine Superman is documentary about Carl Boenisch's life and his drive which pioneers extreme sport of base jumping. It's a humble, true to life outlook on his passion which is fascinatingly infectious and inspiring.

The movie depicts early days of base jumping before it was even called that. Using plenty of Carl's and his crew's perspective to display the thrill and deliver the brief few seconds where men take flight. Many of the clips come from retro films, which have surprisingly refined technical effect considering they had no advance tech or even GoPro back then and even had to use makeshift tools.

There's a bit of narrative to string everything together, aside from the actual interviews or personal clips. Contrary to the dangerous vibe the sport might present, Carl is a modest man. He's warm and avid about the life style, one can't help to be engage by his sheer energy. Many testimonies further set his personality, and even though he's not involved directly in this documentary, audience can still connect to the man.

It gives some ideas to casual viewers about the sport, how it began, the original team behind it and what kind of tribulation they went through. The movie is easily accessible, using simple terms and approachable real life people. Some of its high octane first person view of the sport is classic yet still exhilarating.

Sunshine Superman is a simple story about energetic man and the origin of intense sport. It presents the extraordinary nature of jumping from great heights and translates it into inviting and friendly experience for all viewers.

As documentaries go this film was in the process of being made from the first day that Carl Boenish decided that it would be a cool idea to jump off of a very high cliff, and if at all possible, film his own descent by attaching a camera on to the top of his helmet. In todays technical environment of March 2016, with wing span suits, and more importantly Go Pro cameras that weigh less than two (2) pounds jumping off of a mountain cliff, or a building skyscraper roof is still a huge adrenalin rush, and yes, sky divers, or BASE jumpers as Carl Boenish coined his daredevil activity are still dying for their adrenalin rush today. The equipment used today in BASE jumping may be more technically advanced and safer but there is still a lot of danger and significant risk involved. BASE jumping, is an acronym for Buildings, Antennas, Spans and Earth.

I think what makes this documentary most interesting is some of the people who knew Carl and base jumped with him, as did his wife Jean Boenish hundreds of times, didn't talk about Carl being crazy, or egotistical, or even a film hog. No Carl Boenish was described by his friends, family, and peers as one of the most interesting and intriguing characters they have ever known. I can only imagine what Carl Boenish would be attempting to do if he were alive today. I am sure Carl would be a polar opposite of someone like Johnny Knoxville of the TV/film fame Jackass.

I was most impressed with the pre-planning Carl and his wife Jean would document before attempting any of their jumps. As their BASE jumping in the 1980's was a first not only for the USA, but around the world their reputation preceded them and their BASE jumps were breaking Guinness Book of World records right up to the days prior to Carl's untimely accident in 1984 in Norway.

This documentary reflects the true love (and more importantly trust) that Carl and Jean had in each other as they completed BASE jump after BASE jump with each other. Carl had a lust for life and continued to challenge not only himself but the other BASE jumpers who chose to jump with him. Knowing how the BASE jumping equipment has evolved over the past 30 years, and GoPro cameras light weight and camera resolution have redefined documentaries of today, one can only imagine what Carl and Jean Boenish would be capable of capturing on film today. Sunshine Superman is well worth watching and rates an 8 out of 10 score.

If you enjoy seeing a documentary movie with awe inspiring cinematography that will educate, inspire and amaze you than you will love Sunshine Superman. I learned so much about Carl Boenish's life as an aerial cinematographer and the father of BASE jumping.

Many of Boenish's surviving colleagues as well as his wife help to tell the viewer the story of his life. He had childhood polio that he got from a vaccination. Boenish could not walk for a year due to his polio. He overcame his polio and started his career as an engineer. He eventually became a full time jumper. He said it was very important for him to be able to photograph each jump to share it with others to inspire other people.

BASE jumping, as coined by Boenish, stand for jumping off four types of starting points including buildings, antennas, spans (i.e. Bridges) and natural precipices such as cliffs. Carl Boenish said he has respect for nature's laws but not necessarily man's laws and he had legal trouble in El Capitan for jumping off the vacant Crocker building in downtown Los Angeles. In a 1984 prime time U.S. sports special hosted by David Frost, Boenish and his wife were able to break a Guinness record by jumping from Trollveggen in Western Norway.

Marah Strauch, the director of this movie spent over eight years making it. The movie reflects her passion for Carl Boenish. The footage and cinematography really make the viewer see the beauty and awe inspiring view that the jumpers have while they jumped.

My favorite part of the movie is when Carl Boenish and his wife break a Guinness record by jumping from Trollveggen in Western Norway and seeing it recorded in a prime time U.S. sports special hosted by David Frost. It is wonderful to see the excitement of both Carl and his wife when they successfully break the world record. I am impulsive and very passionate about the interests I have so I can relate to Mr. Boenish's passion for jumping and making sure he can always record it on camera.

This film teaches us to admire and appreciate the beauty and awe of nature that the jumps provide for the BASE jumpers. Carl Boenish and his fellow jumpers are basically fun-loving adventurers. In the movie, Carl says he hopes his jumping will inspire other people that they can conquer their fears seeing he and his fellow jumpers do these jumps that most of us could never dream of doing.

I give this movie 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 10 to 18. Reviewed by Adam C. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic. For more reviews by youth go to kidsfirst dot org.

It was a really good film that did a good job of capturing a moment in time and sketching out one man's contribution to Earth's history.

It's the exciting portrait of Carl Boenish, once an engineer, found the job boring in comparison to his hobby of Skydiving and while turning this, and his love of film, into a career he help to create BASE Jumping.

A lot of the footage from the movie was filmed by the subject himself, as he loves to film his jumps as much or more than he love to jump. All this personal footage made for a very personal documentary, especially as his friends and family narrated the entire film and told their own personal accounts of him.

One of the things I noticed about documentaries about subjects that are barely thirty to thirty five years old is that they have a lot of footage they can use. Boenish was enough of a celebrity in his own time, that the doc was able to use footage from TV and news coverage of the man as well as his own cinematography. And like other contemporary docs they used a lot of different forms of medium, like reenactments of things that did not happen on camera.

Which was not a lot. The filmmakers job was fairly easy as Carl love to document his life, and what a life it was, filled with nothing but joy and happiness, and inspiration to live life to the fullest to the very end.

Without doing much expect having the people still around to tell his story, tell it story, it became an up tempo doc that gets your spirits high after watching it.

Greetings again from the darkness. When at a dinner party someone introduces themselves as "an engineer", we don't typically settle in for a long evening of tales describing their daredevil and death-defying hobbies. Filmmaker Marah Strauch teaches us being too quick to judge could cost us the exhilarating story of Carl Boenish, the father of BASE jumping.

Mr. Boenish was an engineer turned cinematographer turned skydiver and cliff jumper. Despite his unbridled energy and enthusiasm, his engineering background (Hughes Aircraft) provided the analytical foundation that helped him plan "safe" jumps for years. And it was his love of film and cinematography that produced a treasure trove of film clips from some breathtaking jumps … beginning with his 1978 leap from Yosemite's El Capitan.

The film is about Boenish's thirst for the next big jump, but it's also about his jumping partner and wife Jean, and the bond between them. GoPro cameras have spoiled us today. We are accustomed to film clips of just about anything that involves speed, height or any person looking for a thrill. Thirty plus years ago, such clips weren't possible … except with Boenish and his clunky cameras strapped to helmets on these jumps.

BASE jumping is an acronym for Building, Antenna, Span, Earth … the types of jumps required to join the ranks of Boenish's group. We witness the fights against national park Rangers, and the clandestine operations that led to jumps from under construction skyscrapers in Los Angeles and Houston. Boenish truly pushed the Nature's Law vs. Man's Law conflict.

Director Strauch takes us through the Guiness record jump at Norway's Troll Wall, and we even hear Jean stating that Carl would have been right there with today's wing suit jumpers. The final shot of a modern day "flyer" is quite the contrast to those early Boenish jumps. The film answers "How and Why", and leaves little doubt that the genetic make-up is quite different for this group of thrill-seekers than for the rest of us … and being an engineer doesn't exclude one from either group!