Ruth Madeley is sensational as the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement” Judy Heumann in Sian Heder’s Being Heumann, perhaps the most aptly named film of the London Film Festival (or year), based on Heumann’s memoir of the same name. True to its word, this semi-biopic breathes life and community into a topic not nearly committed enough to the screen, recounting a sit-in protest in the year 1977 that helped pave the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
For so many, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first U.S. federal civil rights protection for people with disabilities, is supposed to be a turning point. There is finally the promise of access to buildings just as there is to schooling, but when U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo) refuses to sign, Judy Heumann decides to take a stand. What begins as a protest becomes an invasion of the building, a declaration that this group of activists will not leave until he has put pen to paper. Yet, as has always been the case for Heumann and her friends and colleagues, this will be no easy feat.
Having – in her own words – dropped the Bolton accent, Madeley embodies Heumann marvellously, the right amount of tenacity and vulnerability, all topped off with a hint of the “arsehole” (in her own words). But, as fellow activist Kitty Cone (Madeline Delp) posits, this is exactly what the group needs to take a stand. Heder’s tender approach to the story and script means that Heumann and her friends are never subjected to pity or “inspiration porn” – a term coined by disability advocate Stella Young to describe the societal habit of qualifying those with disabilities as “inspiring” or “brave”. Each is given his or her moment to shine: Michael Patrick Thornton as Ed Roberts, the “boss” who watches the sit-in from the sidelines, and who delivers a beautiful speech to Judy about the limitations of certain bodies when she interprets fellow activists walking out as a betrayal; Charlie Rush-Reese as Dennis, a blind man who was never given the opportunity to go to school; Rein Barcel as Cece, who defies her mother to join the troupes and discovers herself in the process. Despite the level of struggle here, humour plays a crucial role in telling this story: mishaps in department corridor, sex in the elevator, hair washing in the bathroom sinks, Being Heumann gives colour and celebration to a story of resistance and revolution, hardship and endless fighting. For such a terse subject, it could have easily gone in another direction – a documentary or a “serious” drama, perhaps – but Heder’s tone is the perfect one for it, a no-nonsense, happy-sad ride that never lets aesthetic trump fact. At times, there is almost a level of farce to it, sometimes to its detriment, as Ruffalo and his fellow politicians run around like headless chickens, at a loss with what to do with this invasion. The caricature of big bad American bureaucracy runs the risk of costing Being Heumann its seriousness – but then again, considering Califano takes a look at the act and doesn’t even know what 504 is, perhaps it isn’t that much of a caricature after all.
Being Heuman screened at the London Film Festival and will be released in UK cinemas on 6 November 2026.
