David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived Review.

Growing up watching and loving the Harry Potter films, The Boy Who Lived has given me a new admiration and insight into how unbelievable David Holmes and other stunt doubles are. This is a beautiful documentary.

Inspirational, moving and powerful are the only words that can express this harrowing but life affirming documentary. 

“Harry Potter is a big thing for a lot of people and nobody knows what happened to me. I have had such a crazy life, such highs and lows. The full range of human emotion. I thought I better tell my story,” says Holmes at the start of this must be Oscar contender.

We first see the documentary letting the audience know about David’s youthful gymnastics career and then his move into movie stunt work. He had no concept of fear and from a young age Holmes knew he wanted to be a stuntman. Even at age 8 he stated “I’m a gymnast and stuntman extraordinaire”.

Holmes was a few years older than Daniel Radcliffe when he was started working on the Potter films. He first became Radcliffe’s PE trainer to make his physical work look more convincing, then teaching him to enjoy life to the maximum and not to be complacent. 

Holmes’s physical prowess led him to be the stunt double for Daniel Radcliffe. Throughout the film the audience sees back-to-back footage of Holmes performing the dangerous stunts and then Radcliffe replicating the safer version. This was one of the most fascinating aspects of the documentary as you don’t often get to see how action scenes all come together in the process of movie making. Radcliffe and Holmes grew up together, with the Harry Potter actor looking up to the slightly older stuntman.

It was all great until it wasn’t. In a tragic accident rehearsing for the final instalment of the Potter franchise, Holmes was in a wired harness practising a jerk back into a padded wall by a weighted pully that had too much weight attached to it. The subsequent thrust backwards and the resulting impact was much too powerful for the young stuntman’s body. He was instantly paralysed, breaking his neck and losing all feeling. This was 14 years ago. 

The film properly starts days after the accident with David prostrate in his hospital bed, being the life and soul and continually upbeat and finding the light even in the darkness of his awful situation. 

But the film is not just about his personal tragedy, it’s about the friendships that were forged by young boys that were having the time of their lives during the making of these films and then a continuation of their bond evolving through the prism of his disability. Radcliffe is vulnerable and open on his friendship with David as well as his troubled relationship with stardom. There are times where Daniel becomes tearful talking about how the accident has affected his life and the lessons he has learnt. He says “life is just about being there for people, not about fixing anything.”

Some of the people intimately involved in the tragedy when interviewed were almost unbearable to watch as their guilt overwhelmed them. One scene that was particularly affecting was Greg Powell who was the head stunt coordinator on the Potter films. This gruff veteran discovered Holmes and was his mentor and father figure. Greg was in charge on the day of the accident and his guilt and devastation continues to this day. When he says “I fucked his life up” his pain and anguish seem to encapsulate the sense of helplessness that everyone involved feels. 

David is such a humble and unbelievable person, always thinking of the people around him rather than dwelling on his own misfortune. It’s truly humbling when he says he didn’t blame anyone for what happened to him and his stoicism in the face of his failing health is deeply distressing and life affirming at the same time. Holmes states now it’s about being ‘present’ in his life where as before it was about being cool and earning money as a stuntman.

The ending of this brilliant film shows Radcliffe and Holmes revisiting their childhood playground at the Harry Potter Studios, looking at props and discussing their friendship and futures. Their affection for each other is palpable, and for Radcliffe his friend’s disability seems to have grounded him against the unreal trappings of stardom.

Even if you are not a Harry Potter fan you need to see this film so that you appreciate what you have in life. The story of this inspirational and kind man, who although severely disabled still embraces life, is sad but hopeful and very human.