On the 75th anniversary of its production we look back at the profession’s 1949 Oscar winning film.
‘Toward Independence’ is a 1948 American short documentary film about the rehabilitation of military veterans with spinal cord injuries. In 1949, it won an Oscar for Documentary Short Subject at the 21st Academy Awards. Army Surgeon General Raymond W. Bliss, who shares a name with one of the central characters, received the award.
As described in the APTA’s (1949) journal, the Physical Therapy Review, the film portrays the program of care of paraplegics as developed by the Army Medical Department. It details the progress of a patient first learning to move about in his hospital bed, then learning to use reeducated muscles in opening doors, climbing stairs, and driving automobiles, and other steps in his rehabilitation. Ultimately achieving a job and independence in life.
‘Toward Independence’ is a fine depiction of the beginning of rehabilitation for paraplegics, with much tequally relevant today. It likely contributed to awareness of disabilities in US society in general, particularly navigating the challenges posed by infrastructure like kerbs, stairs and doors.
Looking back 75 years the film is also a wonderful study of many of the social issues confronted today, not least the gendered medical hierarchy. It is stark in its whiteness, both of the physical therapist’s impractical nursing-style uniform and the absence of persons of colour. The film espouses the wholesome Christian faith of the nation, as Americans streamed back into the pews immediately after World War II. Combining the Protestant work ethic with unabashed patriotic intentions the film emphasises the American ideals of personal responsibility and hard work to produce ‘independence’, even by the crippled.
Although ‘Toward Independence’ was made as a teaching aid in the training of medical personnel, its realism and humanism won for it the annual award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as the best documentary film of that year (APTA, 1949). And the sweet little twist at the end will soften the heart of even the hardest physiotherapist.
The film was made by the US Army 834th Signal Service Photographic Detachment, headquartered in Astoria, New York, at the Signal Corps Photographic Center (Brackett, 2009). It is one of three Academy Awards won by the Signallers.
‘Toward Independence’ is 29 minutes long and is available on You Tube
References
APTA, 1949. General News: Award Winning Army Film Available. The Physical Therapy Review, 29(10), 465-466.
Brackett, C. 2009. U.S. Army Signal Corps cherishes Oscar award. U.S. Army. Accessed online at https://www.army.mil/article/16851/u_s_army_signal_corps_cherishes_oscar_award on 5 July 2023.
