Crip Camp (2020)

Directed by: James Lebrecht, Nicole Newnham | 106 minutes | documentary | Starring: James Lebrecht, James Lebrecht, Joseph O’Conor, Ann Cupolo Freeman, Denise Sherer Jacobson, Larry Allison, Ellie Abrashkin, Jean Malafronte, Carl, Steve Hofmann, Michael Tannenbaum, Judith Heumann, Howard Gutstadt, Nancy Rosenblum, Neil Jacobson, Nanci D’Angelo, Pat Figueroa, Bobby Muller, Al Levy, Ed Roberts, Corbett O’Toole, Joseph A. Califano, TJ O’Rourke

The Catskills Mountains are located about 150 kilometers above New York City. Between 1951 and 1977, the holiday camp Jened was located in the middle of this beautiful nature reserve. Disabled young people came here every summer to spend their holidays. Despite those handicaps, they played, sang, kissed and messed around. But there was also a lot of discussion, especially when the camp came into the hands of hippies in the 1970s. In those years, America was in bad shape with regard to facilities for the disabled and their rights. Discrimination was rampant. When there was widespread opposition to this discrimination, former campers from camp Jened were at the forefront.

In the documentary ‘Crip Camp’ we can experience these events up close. By a happy coincidence, a lot of film material from the camp has been preserved, black and white, but with telling images. In the first half of the film we see cheerful images from the camp, intersected with commentary from the protagonists. In the second half, we follow the resistance of the disabled, culminating in the occupation of a government building in San Francisco.

That division into two separate parts seems artificial but works fantastic. In the part about the camp we see young people who have already experienced more in their short life than most people in their entire time on earth. We see how they emancipate themselves, how they lift themselves and each other to a higher level in the camp. The fact that they are eloquent young people, undoubtedly from the better circles of New York, helps, of course.

Precisely because we got to know these young people well in the first part, you don’t doubt the success of their actions in the second part. The disinterested, slightly arrogant policy makers don’t know what’s happening to them. We do. For young people who already had to deal with so many setbacks, had to overcome so many barriers, had to improvise so often and had so much to gain, a few months of campaigning was a breeze. Policy makers have known that.

The result is a wonderful feel good, with protagonists that you quickly embrace. Thanks to the intelligent construction, the way the story is told. This means that after an hour and a half of ‘Crip Camp’ we start to look at the world a little more sunny. And that we are once again grateful for our healthy limbs.