New documentary chronicles man with CP's climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro

From Marcia C. Smith's column in the Orange County Register:

ORANGE, Calif. - This documentary is "Rocky," "Rudy," "Miracle" on a mountain and a little "Slapshot" on the steep slope of the world's tallest freestanding peak.

"Beyond Limits" raised audience's souls to the 19,340-foot summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and pulled a crowd of 400 to its feet, applauding through tears Sunday night inside Chapman University's Folino Theater.

This is the true story of Bonner Paddock, the Ducks' senior director of corporate partnerships, who, this past September, climbed a mountain and into the countless hearts forever.

Paddock, 33, of Newport Coast, isn't a mountain climber. He's a charming, ambitious man who was born choked by his mother's umbilical cord, stricken with cerebral palsy and disabled by limited right-side mobility, spastic leg muscles and a fleeting sense of balance.

Sunday's stroll along the plush red carpet leading into the "Beyond Limits" world premiere was the easiest walk Paddock has ever had to take. He was surrounded by those he has inspired.

There were families holding hands with and pushing wheelchairs of their young sons and daughters who have cerebral palsy. And there were people who've become more aware of the disability because of their ties to Paddock.

Ducks' owners Henry and Susan Samueli, Ducks' executives Michael Schulman, Tim Ryan and Bob Wagner, and former Angels slugger Tim Salmon attended the premiere. So did hulking actor Michael Clarke Duncan.

The man nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Green Mile" donated his distinctive voice to narrate this 39-minute documentary filmed, directed and produced by graduates of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

"At first, I was thinking that these were just more people wanting something free, but then I met Bonner … and he changed my life," said Duncan, who attended the premiere. "Whenever I think my life is hard, whenever I think I'm facing challenges, I think of Bonner."

Paddock made the climb to test himself, his will and his physical limits. He did it for charity, raising more than $300,000 for the Orange County chapter of United Cerebral Palsy and the future construction of an Early Learning Center for local children who've inspired him.

"I thought of the children," said Paddock about the moments on the mountain when he thought his body was too weak, his twisted ankles too bruised, his hands too numbed by sub-freezing temperatures, his lungs too tested by the thinning air and his skin so lashed by 50-mph wind.

Short of the summit, he forced himself to continue, walking poles at his sides, a pack scribbled with "Kili Summit or Bust" towing on his back. His expedition team of longtime friends Jayson Dilworth, Paul Flores, Shirley Ala, Rick White and Nancy Sinclair encouraged him. Porters said "Slowly" in Swahili. Mountain guide Tim Geiss stopped with the team a few feet short of the summit to allow the lagging Paddock to be the first to reach the top.

The film masterfully captures Paddock's emotion conquest, particularly at those times when it was only his heart that powered his limping climb, step by painfully slow and unsteady step, across the rugged terrain that had, in the worst of times, dropped him to his knees.

Paddock's toil pours from the screen. So does the tear-struck emotion that pounds the audience the hardest when, thoroughly exhausted but accomplished, Paddock collapses into an embrace with the sign at Uhuru Peak, his finish line.

"This was an incredible journey in challenging conditions of altitude, freezing temperatures and no electricity," said director Kent Bassett, 27, who has spent every day and many long nights since the September climb working on this, his first documentary.

"Beyond Limits" had to be a low-budget production, which is why Duncan recorded his voiceovers in a $135-an-hour garage/studio and also why the filmmakers had to make the trip to Tanzania themselves and do the grueling, eight-day, 64-mile climb to Uhuru Peak with 30 pounds of camera equipment strapped to their bodies.

Cinematographer Jeff Dolen, who slept with his cameras to keep the lenses from freezing in 40-degrees-below-zero temperatures, struggled on the climb. But he kept reminding himself, "If I don't make it to the top, who's going to be there to film Bonner doing it?" And he pressed forward to get The Shot of Paddock's bundled silhouette standing tall atop Mount Kilimanjaro, 19,340 feet closer to the heavens.

That shot became the cover of the DVD, which will soon be available at www.Beyond-Limits.com. Tickets are available for $20 for a May 16 screening at Oakley's Foothill Ranch headquarters.

"This is just the beginning," said Paddock, whose expedition has motivated him to start the OM Foundation to build Early Learning Centers around the world.

His life's work knows no limits.