If you like snowboarding or not I think this is an amazing look into a life of and amazing person with an amazing family. Kevin is a superstar snowboarder when a tough break forces him into changing his entire life. This piece of work is so well done. One of my favorite documentaries of all time.

Shaun White and Kevin Pearce have been friendly rivals since childhood. They have known each other since 9 or 10. Shaun has always won everything. However in the years leading up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Kevin has started to win some. It's a struggle to put in more dangerous high flying tricks. Then 49 days to the Olympics, Kevin suffers a harrowing injury practicing a tough trick. He barely survives while Shaun goes on to win the gold. As he gets better, he wants to snowboard once again despite the fears from everybody.This is an eye opening documentary. First there is a pretty interesting remembrance of the rivalry between Shaun and Kevin. There is his family life and a simple retelling of his life leading up to the injury. After the injury, it seems to be a straight forward traditional inspirational feel good movie. Then it becomes a suspense as Kevin keeps trying to relive his past despite everybody fighting him. The tension is really high as we fear for another brain injury. This is a very compelling tense revealing personal journey.

I saw the The Crash Reel several days ago after its debut on HBO. It has resonated with me ever since -- mostly because of the story and the humanity of its protagonist, the World Class snowboarder Kevin Pearce -- but also because of the exquisite soundtrack that director Lucy Walker utilized to fuse this very emotional subject to the viewer's experience.Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a silent and insidious condition. The difficulty of documentaries such as this is that they tend to portray the victims in as positive a light as possible, with the most optimistic of outcomes. The sad truth of many survivors is that their lives are extremely difficult as they work inordinately hard to maintain just a fraction of the life they used to live. The documentary only hints at these lingering deficits, and it is impossible to know the truth of where Mr. Pearce presently stands in his recovery. I would muster to guess that his life is much more restrictive and frustrating than the movie suggests. This is the primary reason for my less than perfect rating. I would have preferred a more honest assessment of Mr. Pearce's functionality post-injury instead of what I viewed as an unnecessary, though human, detour into the struggles of one of his brothers with Down Syndrome.

Absolutely loved this film! I randomly turned it on (on HBO) and was immediately interested, even though I don't know much about snowboarding. It was interesting to learn about competitive snowboarding & how dangerous it is. Clearly there needs to be more regulations in extreme sports- and at the very very least competitors should be covered under their sponsors, the venues or the media's (who's covering them) insurance. I was so glad to hear Kevin's sponsors stuck with him thru out his ordeal.I feel in love with the Pierce family who are so loving!Best of luck to you KP in whatever you choose to do now!