Not Going Quietly, 2021.
Directed by Nicholas Bruckman.
SYNOPSIS:
An intimate, inspiring look at activist and loving father Ady Barkan, diagnosed with ALS at age 32 and who, in spite of declining physical abilities, embarks on a nationwide campaign for healthcare reform.
It’s no secret to anyone with their eyes open that the American healthcare system continues to be one of the great injustices in a society so keen to position itself as exceptionally free and just. This righteously, devastatingly angry documentary from Nicholas Bruckman (La americana) – also executive-produced by the Duplass brothers and Bradley Whitford – traces one man’s courageous fight to leave behind a better America.
In 2016 at the age of just 32 and shortly after the birth of his son, Ady Barkan was diagnosed with ALS and given up to four years to live. Barkan, a lawyer and social activist, swiftly decided to make the most of his remaining time by campaigning industriously against healthcare cuts and championing Medicare for All.
When we meet Ady, he’s preparing to use his computerised voice device for the first time, before Bruckman flashes back to provide glimpses of the man in happier, healthier times. This is just one of the several motivated cuts Bruckman makes throughout to demonstrate the shocking degenerative tide of ALS, one only exacerbated by the actions of politicians who refuse to preface basic human dignity over money.
Barkan’s diagnosis unfortunately came just a month prior to Donald Trump’s election, as the GOP swiftly attempted to railroad further cuts to healthcare – totalling hundreds of billions of dollars – while granting astronomical tax breaks to their wealthy pals. But an unexpected turning point came when Barkan had a chance meeting with Republican Senator Jeff Flake on a flight, a recorded interaction which went viral and kickstarted a wider movement.
Barkan eventually set off on a 30-stop tour across the U.S. to meet with politicians and discuss the issue, a media circus snowballing as his actions made people take notice. At one point he tells us, “I’ve got a lot left to say and not a lot of time to say it in,” a tension exacerbated by the demands of his family life – the agonising push-and-pull of campaigning for better healthcare at the expense of what time remains with his family.
Though Barkan is a courageous, even inspiring figure – though he’s not too fond of the latter descriptor – Bruckman’s film is rife with soul-crushing footage of Republican politicians ignoring him and his fellow activists, locking their doors, and otherwise pleading for “civility” while effectively knifing Barkan and people like him in the back by voting so insensitively against what should be basic human rights.
As much as Barkan’s original plane clip blew up when he asked Flake to “be a hero,” there’s really little heroic about extending the most rudimentary dignity to people who require healthcare. The idea that a comfortable continued existence for everyone is a partisan issue will never not be one of America’s monolithic embarrassments.
That Barkan even has to go out on the road, testifying before the Committee on Rules and mobilising a movement which literally flipped seats during the 2018 midterm elections, is a damning indictment of a system which, if we’re being bluntly honest, would rather people like Barkan simply die quietly.
Both in and away from the political arena, this is a deeply intimate documentary with Bruckman granted extensive access to Barkan in his most personal and vulnerable moments. Watching him speak to his young son on the phone mid-tour, his condition deteriorating while his child grows, is completely overwhelming, yet Barkan somehow still manages to tout a wry sense of humour throughout most all of it.
His condition may be irreversible but his capacity to fight for change nevertheless remains. Today, he continues to endure following a successful tracheotomy operation which will extend his life by an indeterminate period, and in a year which has challenged us all, his spirited fight for healthcare provisions couldn’t be more urgent.
Heartbreaking, infuriating, and vital, this is a trenchant examination of what ALS sufferers go through daily, and makes a shattering argument that no society with America’s barbaric healthcare system can be truly free or democratic.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more film rambling.
