She faces challenges speaking, but the filmmakers behind “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” say the former congresswoman’s voice is “at the center” of their new documentary.
The film, which opens in theaters on Friday, follows the Arizona Democrat’s heartbreaking but inspirational recovery after she was shot in the head during a constituent meeting in Tucson in 2011. The documentary from Briarcliff Entertainment and CNN Films includes a raw look at the days and months immediately following the attack, which killed six people and injured 18 others.
“I thought at some point, whether it was a year or 10 years later, Gabby was going to want to see what she went through,” Giffords’s husband, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), explains in the movie. “So I had a friend of mine pick up a tripod and a camera, and we just started filming.”
Viewers see Giffords struggling to cope with aphasia, a language disorder caused by her nearly fatal injury, and sobbing as she attempts to sing the words to “Happy Birthday” just 37 days after being shot by gunman Jared Loughner.
Kelly reveals the assassination attempt came just two days before she was scheduled to undergo an in vitro fertilization procedure in the hopes of having a baby.
But the documentary also gives a glimpse into Giffords’s countless triumphs, as she relearns to communicate with both her words and body language. At one point, the ‘80s music lover is seen belting out the Cyndi Lauper hit “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” while in the hospital.
“Lot of homework. Every day I push myself,” Giffords, 52, says in the film.
The former lawmaker sings throughout the movie, which is how filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen landed on the title.
“She’s singing as she’s getting ready to go on a bike ride. She’s singing [the U2 song] ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.’ And then, you know, when she sings [Tom Petty’s] ‘I Won’t Back Down’ — to us, it just symbolized her whole attitude about this really traumatic event that changed the entire course of her life,” says West.
“How did she deal with that? And she dealt with it by not backing down, by finding a new way,” she adds.
“This is an unbelievable pivot to go from being a public servant as a congresswoman, to being a public servant as an activist, and in a way to allow herself to be out there as one of the most powerful symbols of the consequence of gun violence in our country,” West says of Giffords, who launched her eponymous anti-gun violence advocacy organization in 2013.
“To put herself out there and to fight for this is the ultimate act of not backing down,” says West.
Despite their attraction to serious stories, Cohen says she and West — the directors behind the Oscar-nominated “RBG” and last year’s Julia Child documentary “Julia” — didn’t “intend to or want to make a depressing downer of a film.”
“Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” includes plenty of lighthearted moments that capture the former congresswoman’s “bubbly joy.”
At one point, Kelly and Giffords open the freezer in their kitchen to reveal a Tupperware containing the portion of Giffords’s skull that was removed during one of her surgeries.
“This stays in here next to the empanadas and the sliced mango,” Kelly says as Giffords chuckles.
“This is what remains of Gabby’s skull. When she was in the hospital I just happened to ask the doctor what they were going to do with it,” recalls Kelly. And he says, “ ‘Well, what do you want to do with it?’”
“Keep it,” Giffords recalls telling Kelly.
“Sera sera,” she adds.
The film also includes praise for Giffords from Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) — who calls her a “kindred spirit” — and former President Obama.
“Although politics weren’t as divided then as they are now, they were still pretty divided,” Obama says in the documentary. “So whenever you saw someone who could bridge the partisan gap, and speak to people in a way that felt authentic, that was something that was really prized.”
Giffords, according to Obama, “had the energy and ambition, I think, to have gone really far in politics.”
Giffords — who was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week by President Biden at the White House and feted at a glitzy D.C. premiere of the film on Monday — is also seen working on her husband’s 2020 Senate special election bid, and coaching him when he was rehearsing for his inaugural speech on the Senate floor last year.
“Slow down,” Giffords instructs to her spouse, who is up for reelection this year, advising him to use his hands and straighten his posture.
Although politics plays a part, the movie is more about “what a human being can overcome and get through,” says Cohen.
“Not just trudging through, but getting through joyously. I mean, it’s really something to watch,” Cohen says.
“We have adopted a new word, which is ‘Gabby-fying,’ ” West tells ITK.
“It really does make you think about your own little problems and obstacles, and take a look at how this woman is dealing with some major challenges but just keeps pushing forward without bitterness, and with a lot of exuberance,” West exclaims.
“It is inspiring,” she says. “It is Gabby-fying.”