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'Becoming Bulletproof' is haphazard but moving

( Unrated ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

The film follows an annual event in which aspiring performers with disabilities act out a scripted feature film.

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Courtesy of SuperFilms Productions
Jeremy Vest in the movie 'Becoming Bulletproof.' A uniquely diverse group of people from across the US take on leading roles in a rip roaring Western, filmed on location and vintage Hollywood sets.
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

Every year, two brothers, Will and Peter Halby, and their wives, Vanessa and Ila, put together a film project at Hollywood’s Zeno Mountain that brings in from around the United States aspiring performers with disabilities to act out a scripted feature film. The documentary “Becoming Bulletproof,” directed by Michael Barnett, is about the making of “Bulletproof,” a western starring, among others, A.J. Murray, who uses a wheelchair and has cerebral palsy and plays the town mayor, and Jeremy Vest, who was born with Williams syndrome and plays the film’s hero, Bulletproof Jackson.    

As a piece of filmmaking, “Becoming Bulletproof” is haphazard and overloaded with talking heads. But as a window into the lives of some of these actors, it’s often moving. As a viewer, I felt privileged to make the acquaintance, in particular, of Murray, a young man whose clear-eyed uplift in the face of so much vicissitude is enormously inspiring. Grade: B (This film is not rated.)

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