I saw this without any idea what it was about or what to expect. I only chose to watch it when I noticed that it was Andy Serkis's directorial debut, and I'm very glad I did.Serkis, who has continued to impress with his power, passion, and versatility as an actor, proves that his vast talents are not limited to his work in front of the camera. In this movie, he brings all the intelligence and truth that he has mastered as an actor and channels it into the finely-tuned and delicately balanced performances of his cast, who he directs with great sensitivity and attention to detail. But as a director he also exhibits great vision and a keen sense of storytelling, which results in a film that is richly cinematic, yet intimate and tender.As a first-time director, Serkis has wisely surrounded himself with an impressive cast of reliable performers, each of whom brings their A game. And additionally he has assembled a talented crew who ably bring his vision of this true story to life with stunning cinematography, magnificent art direction, and period wardrobe that is authentic but not distracting. The elegant orchestral score stays mostly in the background, subtly aiding the storytelling without making a nuisance of itself or leaving any earworms behind. My only minor gripe is that the editing was a little choppy in a few of the earlier scenes - but I'm really nit-picking now. Overall, though not a complete masterpiece, it is a film of a very high standard that achieves all of its creative and narrative goals. Though emotionally raw in places, it manages to stay on the right side of the melodramatic line, and leaves the viewer feeling uplifted rather than devastated.All in all, it is a fascinating true story, masterfully told.

Beautiful film played well by all characters really gripped me left me in floods of tears Such dignity and grace come the end

A true story of a polio victim who did not want the disease to defeat him and in the process invented equipment that improved the lives of the disabled.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library.Andrew Garfield is really excellent in the part of Robin Cavendish who in 1958, at the age of 28, contracted polio while in Kenya on business. I remember polio well, I was a boy in the 1950s and I remember taking the Salk vaccine. It is a devastating illness, it usually causes paralysis which is not reversible. Typically polio victims were given a few months to live and were kept hospitalized, on a ventilator, unable to breathe on their own. After about a year Robin began to ask why he couldn't be moved to his home and kept on a ventilator there. Eventually he was and with the help of a friend had devices built, with battery operated ventilators, that would allow him initially to go outdoors then to even take trips. And devices which operated by slight movements of his head.The meat of this movie is what he accomplished after he left the hospital, particularly how he helped open up development of batter ways to care for those with similar afflictions.He eventually died in 1994, about 35 years after contracting polio. It is implied though not stated in the movie that he chose his time of death by having a doctor administer a medicine so that his ventilator could be unplugged and he could died peacefully and painlessly.