By John Corrado
Terry Fox, the young man who had his leg amputated due to cancer and began running across the country in 1980 to spread awareness of the disease and raise money for a cure, remains one of the most celebrated Canadians of all time.
In his remarkable new documentary Run Terry Run, director Sean Menard (The Carter Effect) allows Terry Fox’s story to come to life in a new way. The film unfolds entirely through archival footage from Fox’s Marathon of Hope, including previously unreleased home videos shot from inside the van following behind him. It’s incredible.
Menard never breaks from this approach, allowing his film to unfold entirely through this restored archival footage that Menard, who also edited the documentary, has assembled into a compelling narrative. Seeing Fox’s 143 day journey, which began in St. John’s, Newfoundland and ended in Thunder Bay, come together in this way lets us experience it in a way that feels vivid and alive onscreen.
The story is told in voiceover by three subjects, including his best friend Doug Alward, who was driving the van, and his younger brother Darrell Fox, who was added to the team for moral support. Finally, we hear reflections from Toronto Star journalist Leslie Scrivener, who first started following his Marathon of Hope when nobody else in the newsroom saw it as particularly newsworthy.
We see and hear first-hand how taxing running upwards of five thousand kilometres a day on a prosthetic leg really was on his body, but also how determined he was to keep going and pushing forward. A key theme is also how Terry Fox’s run captured the public’s attention and helped unite the country, at a time when Quebec was facing a separatist referendum. It’s important and fascinating historical context for his added significance in our country’s history.
We know how Terry Fox’s journey ended, and that every September there is a charity run to pick where he left off and keep his legacy alive. This is a case where the inevitability of what we know is coming only adds to the emotional impact of Run Terry Run. It’s very powerful seeing images of his family following his death, and old news footage of testimonials from Canadians he inspired at the time. Menard has crafted a film that is as inspiring and deeply moving as its subject.
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