Crip Camp

That makes five again.

There are Five Documentaries nominated for the Oscar, and now, I've seen Five Documentaries. The last film on the list is Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. It's been on Netflix for over a year and I've seen it now.

James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham chronicle Camp Jened, a Catskills summer camp for disabled teens. LeBrecht was a camper there in the summer of 1971. The film's first half chronicles that eventful summer. The campers were marginalized and forgotten by society due to their disabilities. But Camp Jened was their utopia. They felt like real kids. That summer eventually ended.

The second half chronicles their lives after that summer. They took action as disability rights activists. Judith Heumann organized protests in New York against their lack of accessibility. She later helped organize the 504 Sit-in in 1977 to spur the enactment of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Her actions and those of others helped pass the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

LeBrecht supplies the film with footage shot by the People's Video Theater. We see them voting on dinner, dealing with Crabs, and simply bonding. Campers Neil Jacobson and Denise Sherer are still married today. We also get to know the hippy camp counselors. These fifty-year-old movies are an entertaining time window. A few of the campers, including the Jacobsons, give equally entertaining modern interviews. We also see LeBrecht as a sound engineer at a theater. What's awesome is that LeBrecht had "hours to live" as a baby, but he's still here and doing a lot.

The second half shows the world outside Jened. We see Willowbrook Institution, a place where severely disabled kids were neglected. We see how hard it is to circumnavigate traffic-heavy Manhattan in a wheelchair. We see how the kids were virtually ignored at school. It's a grim reality that needed to be changed. Thankfully, their efforts mostly succeeded.

Crip Camp runs at a brisk 108 minutes. It's a strong chronicle of the early days of the disability rights movement. The movement has much work left but they've accomplished a lot. It's still ready for a Netflix matinee any time. You still have to hurry if you want to see it before the Oscars.