9 Criminally Underrated 2013 Films You Probably Missed

7. The Crash Reel

2013 was a big year for visceral documentaries. While The Act Of Killing took a lot of plaudits (though not necessarily from audiences - or at least not as many as it deserved,) the HBO-made The Crash Reel didn't attract nearly as much attention. The film follows a horrific, near-fatal 2009 crash by American snowboarding champion Kevin Pearce, who came about as close as anyone to knocking friend and living legend Shaun White off his pedestal as the greatest star the sport had ever seen. Ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Pearce suffered a massive head trauma which left him in a coma, and with a permanent disability. This is a story of defiance, and of painful acceptance ultimately - Pearce struggles with his new reality, and with the limiting revelation that he won't ever get to the stage he once was thanks to his injury, as well as with what he sees as the ignorant and reductive concerns of his over-dramatic family. Crucially, the film shows both sides of the argument, of a family deeply worried about the very real threat of death - which is horribly reinforced when one of Pearce's friends dies midway through the film in a similar accident - and of a huge talent limited and trapped in a broken body. At times it makes hard viewing, but it is easily one of the best documentaries - and in fact, one of the best films - of the entire year. Why You Didn't See It It was aired exclusively on TV, but that doesn't make it any more of an astonishingly profound, and wholly gripping film. You might reconsider your extreme yearnings, but it's a hugely important film that deserves to be seen by a lot more people. That is, in fact, an understatement.