ironhorse_iv
On November 15, 2013, something very wonderful happen in the Bay Area, when the city of San Francisco was transformed into Gotham City by the Make a Wish Foundation in order to fulfill a young cancer survivor, Miles Scott's dream of becoming Batman for a day. Directed by Dana Nachman, this film revisit it all; telling the stories of how thousands of volunteers, city officials, businesses and supporters achieve this dream; while also telling the backstory of the child in honor, Miles Scott. While, this documentary will melt even the coldest of hearts, there were some moments in the film that I have a love/hate relationship with. One of those things, was the fact that the event was aided throughout by social media groups that seems to disguised themselves as a worthy help; when in truth, they seem more like using the event for more selfish reasons, like self-brand promoting. Maybe, it's just the cold-hearted part of me, but I really found it odd that social marketing sites like Clever Girls would do, this, for the free. After all, there is no such thing as a free lunch. It's not like they help manipulating their client advertisements in every social media link, news article and promotional website, when Batkid was threading to nearly 2 billion people around the world or would they. Another person that came off a bit, sketchy and annoying was social media promoter, Mike DeJesus who seem a little too proud of his work, while using the Make-A-Wish foundation handle. After all, this guy seem to be, a little narcissism on what I saw, on his then, and most recent media postings, when doing research for this review. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to poke holes into their moral character, but the film doesn't deliver on a really good reason, on why they really wanted to volunteer for this assignment. The same goes with all the political city agencies, and even the entertainment industries that came to Make-A-Wish's aid. In the end, who knows, what hidden agendas, these large social structures had with this project. While, the event and this documentary can be very entertaining and exciting to watch, it's also promoting a number of commercialism product behind the main theme. I just hope, Miles Scott is truly a San Francisco Giants fan, the same with Lamborghini, and other products that is feature at the event, so much. Another problem, that I have, against the movie, is how much, they push Miles Scott to do the actives, even after he admits to his family that he is tired. Was it, really the best decision to have the kid climb a large amount of stairs, do stunts, and others, in yet; another exploit with the Penguin (Mike Jutan), so soon after remission with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The first one with the Riddler (Phillip Watt) was good enough. Despite that, I have to say, the staged events that they made for him, were really cool and all the performers that went through it, with him, deserve much praise. It was very impressed to watch. Well done, Caped Crusader, and all of those who helped along the way. I also love, seeing how many people showed up to cheer for Batkid. Having lived in the Bay Area and seeing the events, first-hand, I still didn't know, how many people show up. It really surprised me that 25,000 people showed up to celebrate and support Make-A-Wish foundations Batkid day. It really shows the power that social media has with people. However, I think some of those people were just there, as an easy and cheap way to feel like they accomplished something when they didn't. Still, the event got so popular that also in 2015, producer/actress Julie Roberts announced that she will produce and star in a feature adaptation of the documentary Batkid Begins, titled, "Batkid Begins: The Wish Heard Around the World". While, this might sound amazing. I really don't like this idea of a fictionalized version of this documentary at all. It sounds like an ambulance chaser of a movie. I don't think, those events need to be cinematic recreation. In truth, this documentary is good enough on its own merit to serve as an entertaining historical video reminder of the real-life event. Anything else, would seem cheap and bandwagonly. Plus, I like how this film donated 100% of the film's proceeds to The Batkid Fund, which benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation, along with 4 other charities. I think the Hollywood version, if made, would do less than that. Overall: I have to say, this movie is unabashedly sentimental to the point that I can hardly find, much flaws with it. 'Batkid Begins' is one 'superhero' movie, worth seeing.