Unbreakable: The Mark Pollock Story begins nationwide tour
Feature documentary UNBREAKABLE: THE MARK POLLOCK STORY
Filmed over six years Unbreakable is the story of blind athlete Mark Pollock’s tragic fall that left him paralysed and how he found his courage again. A special Unbreakable preview tour will travel around Ireland throughout the months of October and November. The full list of screenings can be viewed here.
The film follows the almost unbelievable tragedies that life has thrown at Mark and his resolve to move beyond them. Unbroken by blindness at 22, Mark was a Commonwealth Games medal winner and competed in ultra endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps and ten years after losing his sight he became the first blind person to race to the South Pole, a race that allowed him to finally put the demons of blindness behind him. But then, just four weeks from the day of his planned wedding to fiancée Simone, a fall 25 feet from a second story window left Mark near death and paralysed from the waist down.
Directed by Ross Whitaker (When Ali Came to Ireland; Saviours), this moving, fascinating film brings the audience to Mark’s bedside in the acute ward of a spinal hospital; blind, now paralysed and broken. The close friendship between Mark and the filmmaker has produced a delicate, deeply personal, intimate film. Six years in the making it tells the story of Mark’s eventual rehabilitation and his mission to find and connect people worldwide to fast track a cure for paralysis, a mission which gives the audience a glimpse of the frontiers of robotics and medical science.
Unbreakable is ultimately a testament to the power of human relationships. It follows Mark and Simone as they use their combined force to challenge their fate and how the support of thousands of people around the world has carried them on.
Mark’s fall happened on the 2nd of July 2010 and he was in hospital for 16 months. The film follows him as he learns if he can meet this challenge and as he finds a balance between accepting this second disability and hoping for a cure as he looks for innovators around the world who are challenging conventional wisdom.
Director Ross Whitaker said, “To be given such incredible access to a compelling story is a huge privilege and opportunity as a filmmaker. At times it was heartbreaking to be so close to Mark and Simone as they struggled in the wake of Mark’s fall. In the end though, watching them became an uplifting experience as these amazing people built a new life that will no doubt help many people with spinal cord injuries in the future.”
Unbreakable follows how the Mark Pollock Trust and its fundraising event, Run in the Dark has allowed Mark to follow an aggressive physical therapy regime and to become the first person in the world to own a personal set of robotic legs made by Ekso Bionics. Both Mark and Simone are now board members of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, named after the actor who played Superman and his wife. Commenting on his mission to fast track a cure for spinal cord injury, Mark says, “I want a cure for movement if we can have that and I want a cure for the secondary problems too.”
One of the sequences in the film shows Mark speaking at an event. “One of the main things I talk about is the dichotomy of acceptance and hope. When I broke my back, I was advised to accept my situation and move on, but unless we have hope how can we ever change things. Without acceptance there is no start line, but without hope there is no finish line. Somewhere in the middle we will make important progress.”
The trailer for the film has just been revealed and can be viewed here: http://www.markpollockfilm.com/trailer/
Unbreakable: The Mark Pollock Story was produced with the participation of the Irish Film Board / Bord Scannán na hÉireann; RTÉ and Rehab.
