BASE-jumping doc 'Sunshine Superman' flies

Marah Strauch's Sunshine Superman is ostensibly a documentary about the life of Carl Boenish, a seminal member of the BASE-jumping movement.

But Sunshine Superman, named for the Donovan song, is about more than just Boenish. It's about the power of the image, something that Strauch uses to great effect. And, more important, it's about his relationship with his wife, Jean, who jumped with him and seemed to be the only person to truly understand what was at the heart of his desire to fly.

BASE-jumping is an acronym for building, antenna, span, earth - the objects off which the practitioners of this awe-inspiring and deadly sport jump.

Boenish was not only a fearless jumping devotee, but he was also a cinematographer, and his greatest leaps were often caught on film. Sunshine Superman tells Boenish's story largely through this imagery, with those who knew Boenish occasionally breaking in to add bits of narration to his life. These talking heads are used relatively minimally compared to the beautiful footage of people gliding through the air.

Boenish understood the power these images hold: He told a reporter that he would not be as interested in jumping if he could not bring a camera with him. The images he shared were not to inspire people to jump themselves, but to reach higher in their everyday lives. Hey, he said, maybe someone will try to get that 300 next time they bowl.

"I don't want to be childish," Boenish said, "but there's a lot of virtue in being childlike because he hasn't been taught what he can't do."

An ominous tone pervades Sunshine Superman, though. For all of the voices that talk about Boenish, his is heard only in file footage, and Sunshine Superman moves along under an intentional pall: This will not end well for him. A 1984 trip to Norway, where the Boenishes are followed by cameras of all international stripes - including David Frost's crew - confirms that fear.

Even so, Sunshine Superman has a lovely undertone, constantly reiterating how much Carl, who seemed not to be interested in women at all, loved Jean. And Jean loved Carl.

As the documentary ends, it looks at new forms of BASE-jumping and how the sport has evolved, with Jean remarking that Carl would have loved to participate, and, in a sense, is. For just as much as he loved Jean, Carl also loved to fly.

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