DAVID HOLMES: THE BOY WHO LIVED
UK, 2023, 90 minutes, Colour.
David Holmes, Daniel Radcliffe, Marc Mailey, Greg Powell, Tommy Wells, Sue Holmes, Andy Holmes, Tolga Kenan.
Directed by Dan Hartley.
The Harry Potter franchise was an extraordinary milestone in popular cinema, based on JK Rawlings popular novels, the films being produced over a ten-year period in the to thousands, seen by vast audiences, promoted, and continually repeated on streaming services as well is stage adaptations.
This is the story of a young man who was Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double, David Holmes.
The Holmes family had a great deal of home video, a vital source of visual information about David, his athletic prowess, gymnastic expertise, from a young age. The connection with stunt producer, Greg Powell, led him to the Harry Potter franchise, just a few years older than Daniel Radcliffe, but sufficiently resembling him to be a stunt double.
There is quite some visual exhilaration in the gymnastic portrait of David Holmes, and the detail of his work and the stunts for the Harry Potter films. And, David is an enthusiast, finding his life’s vocation in stunt work. Then, one day, an accident which broke David’s neck, rendering him paraplegic, a long time in hospital, recuperation, rehabilitation, confined to a wheelchair, limited power in his right arm, deteriorating, his life, his date disabled life, for more than a decade.
David Holmes is, still, a cheerful personality, immediately aware of what had happened to him, participating in the surgery, as well is surgery on several operations 13 years later. There are interviews with his parents, his upset mother talking about suing, and David Holmes replying that his wife was reportedly did not want to ruin anyone else’s life. This perspective on life has continued.
David became friends with Daniel Radcliffe, a kind of older brother situation as he trained the actor who was not particularly well coordinated for the stunt work. They got to know each other well. And, over the years, Daniel Radcliffe has been a good friend to David, and, while living in New York, always visiting David on trips to England, one sequence showing him going to a program where David is training young gymnasts.
David’s good friend Mark Mailley from raucous days but then becoming a successful stuntman, is interviewed for this film, often almost moved to tears. It is the same with Greg Powell who feel some sense of responsibility for David state because he introduced him to start work. The film is also a great tribute to Tommy Wells, David’s long time, patient and devoted carer.
Fans of Harry Potter, this will be an insight into the making, the tragedy of accidents, and an admiration of the longtime friendship between David Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe. It is also a film about profound disability, the reality of surgery and hospital care, recuperation and rehabilitation. But, given David Holmes temperament, optimistic view of life, this is also a moving documentary about the courage of the human spirit.
