DAVID ADAMS watches ‘Wish Man’, the story of the US creator of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Frank Shankwitz…
Wish Man (M)
In A Word: Stirring
Andrew Steel plays Frank Shantwitz and Christian Ganiere plays the terminally ill Michael in ‘Wish Man’.
Based on real life events, Wish Man tells the story of Arizona motorcycle cop Frank Shankwitz who co-founded the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the US following a near-death experience which changed his life.
Bullied as a child, Shankwitz (played as an adult by Australian Andrew Steel) overcame the difficulties of a broken home and being taken away from his father, thanks in part to aid of local diner owner Juan (Steven Michael Quezada), to join the Highway Patrol. But there too, despite being an award-winning officer, he finds himself something of an outsider, targeted by corrupt colleagues after he refuses to go along with their story when a traffic stop goes wrong.
“A story about the possibility of change and the impact one life can have on others, Wish Man is an emotionally rewarding film with a strongly redemptive storyline.”
It’s then that during a pursuit, he comes off his bike – so bad are his injuries that colleagues initially report him as dead – but Shankwitz survives after being given CPR by a woman driving past (played by Steel’s real-life wife Kym Jackson) and begins the long, slow journey back to health. It’s during his recovery that his boss – Sergeant Eddie Newman (Robert Pine) – suggests he help “make the wish” of CHIPS-obsessed young boy Michael (Christian Ganiere), who is only expected to live a week longer thanks to leukaemia and wants more any thing to be a motorcycle cop.
Shankwitz soon realises he’s getting as much out of the relationship with Michael as is the boy. And so is planted the seed for the idea that eventually becomes the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a philanthropic organisation which aims to grant the “wishes” of terminally ill children.
Well-crafted with some good acting – Steel puts in a strong performance in his debut feature-film lead – and there’s a surprising number of well-know faces in the film – from Robert Pine as his Sergeant Eddie Newman to Tom Sizemore and Tom Whalley who play corrupt colleagues, Danny Trejo who plays a local diner owner, and Bruce Davison, who plays Frank’s father later in life.
A story about the possibility of change and the impact one life can have on others, Wish Man is an emotionally rewarding film with a strongly redemptive storyline.
‘Wish Man’ is being released in Australia through the Wonder streaming platform. Forty per cent of the proceeds from any rental or purchase of ‘Wish Man’ through Wonder will go directly to Make-A-Wish Australia.
