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The Waterdance (1992)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
A realistic, funny and unflinching look at the trials of paraplegia, the lack of sentimentality and stereotype is refreshing. From his vantage point on a hospital gurney, skill strapped into an immobile metal cage, Joel Garcia (Eric Stoltz) gets to see a lot of ceiling. Faces float in and out of sight but mostly Joel gazes at grubby tiles and flickering fluorescent tubes -- not particularly inspiring. The reason for his prone position is a serious back injury sustained in the mountains, which rendered his lower half paralysed and placed him in intensive care. However, the real struggle is only just beginning, although at least he'll be with people in the same boat (whilst on the rehabilitation ward).

The most prominent companions (i.e. the most vocal) are Bloss (William Forsythe) and Raymond Hill (Wesley Snipes), although that's about their only similarity. Bloss, a hard-drinking, leather-jacketed, racist biker, wound up here after a bad crash. Luckily he's got the prospect of a huge lawsuit to buoy his spirits, assuming that it comes off. In contrast, Raymond is a boastful, imaginative fellow; a real ladies man. A veritable fount of tales concerning his feminine conquests, Raymond casts an appreciative eye over Joel's girlfriend Anna (Helen Hunt). She really adores Joel, despite his precarious position, and visits almost every day. The only fly in the ointment is that she's still married and can't choose between the two (not that she wants to).

As Joel recovers from his trauma, and gradually comes to terms with it, the underlying characters of his ward-mates start to become apparent. Joel moves from a body-cast to a neck brace to nothing over a several month period, paralleling the alterations in his relationship with Anna. She loves him (and vice-versa) but at heart he hates her for being able to walk (since you always seem to project your anger at those closest). Meanwhile, Bloss experiences some upsets in his court case, partly because his well-meaning mother hired lawyers off of the TV and partly through his not entirely blameless contribution to the accident. Raymond is forced to confront reality by his wife Rachel (Fay Hauser), an event not entirely in keeping with his self-constructed image. Elsewhere patients such as Victor (Tony Genaro) do what they can while seriously ill Vernon (Casey Stengel) howls day and night and young kid Sang (Tai Thai) arrives to join them.

The fundamental strength of The Waterdance is that it doesn't shy away from grim reality, only expressing through metaphors. The characters are never ridiculed, although there is humour in their situation, and the story never becomes sickly sentimental, even when pathos is uncovered. Somehow the entire gamut of emotions is explored (anger, fear, pain, embarrassment) without ever going over-the-top or forcing issues. In tandem with this treatment, the patients themselves are not single-sided (even though that's how they first appear). Bloss isn't really a racist, that's just how is former social group operated, and neither is Raymond. Equally, there are no artificial moments of clarity which negate everything that preceded, instead people's real feelings emerge slowly and with great difficulty. It's been said that while The Waterdance is honest about sex and disability (especially the side-effects of "gizmos") it doesn't go far enough. Perhaps, but at least it makes a concerted effort in the right direction. The Waterdance succeeds by pointing out that paraplegics are human too, not just an illness in a wheelchair, which is an obvious but often over-looked fact.

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