Doc 10 2025 – Ghost Boy
American documentarian Rodney Ascher has made shorts and contributed to feature-length documentaries, but he’s perhaps best known for helming two documentaries that received almost cult status. 2012’s “Room 237” was about how Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” has been interpreted over the years, and 2015’s “The Nightmare,” about sleep paralysis, was scarier than any horror movie released that year. His latest is “Ghost Boy”, which will play in Chicago tomorrow night as part of the Doc 10 Film Festival, allowing viewers to interpret the world through the mind of someone without a voice, trapped in a paralyzed body.
Martin Pistorius is the subject of “Ghost Boy”, a 49-year-old South African man who had locked-in syndrome and was unable to move or communicate for 12 years. This happened when Martin was a 12-year-old boy, when he gradually began losing voluntary motor control, rendering him in a nonverbal vegetative state. He lived with two younger siblings, along with their parents, who cared for Martin while he was in this state. At age 16, he began regaining consciousness, and by the time he turned 19, Martin was fully conscious while still paralysed except for eye movement. It wasn’t until he received empathetic care from caregiver, Virna van der Walt, who engaged with him like she would anyone else, that she noticed he could respond to her using his eyes.
Ascher works closely with Martin to tell his story, incorporating current in-studio interviews (capturing cameras swirling around him) and scenes from Martin’s past reinacted by actors on a stage. We also hear Martin narrate his story in a voice activated through his MacBook. Using the new interviews with Martin and excerpts from Martin’s 2015 memoir (also titled Ghost Boy), Ascher translates what would seem to be an impossible perspective in a wholly creative and absorbing manner to the screen. It’s a challenge for both men, considering there are many years that Martin cannot recall, but there are photo albums and the memories of family members to fill in the gaps.
Some of the film’s more potent moments are when Ascher’s camera fixes on Martin’s face as he listens or types out a response. He takes the time to create the same space and care that Verna did with Martin. “Ghost Boy” isn’t just an incredible story but a fascinatingly vibrant and moving way to tell us about an extraordinary life.
RATING: ****
screening: Thurs. 5/01 at 8:15 pm (CST) at Davis Theater – followed by Q&A with director Rodney Ascher, moderated by Scott Tobias
