Not Going Quietly (2021 | USA | 96 minutes | Nicholas Bruckman)
When he received a surprise ALS diagnosis in in his early thirties, advocacy lawyer Ady Barkan pledged to spend the limited time he had left to live with his young family in Santa Barbara. A weekend in DC lobbying to save the Affordable Care Act, a chance meeting with a young activist in the airport, and a viral conversation with Arizona senator Jeff Flake aboard a cross-country flight changed all of that. Despite imminent physical deterioration, Barkan and his trusty reclining lounger boarded an RV for coast-to-coast road trip to confront Congressional incumbents about their commitment to health care in an effort to flip the House. Nicholas Bruckman’s remarkable new documentary (produced by the Duplass Brothers) is a testament to his tenacity in dedicating his waning days of movement and access to his natural voice to a race to make the biggest possible impact.
The trip takes him coast-to-coast to congressional offices for “bird dogging” events (aimed at putting uncomfortable representatives on the record for grassroots advertising), into training activities to engage local communities, and stays in various campgrounds with fellow tireless organizers (and his best friend, along for the ride as a devoted caregiver). At one point he describes this hard work of movement building as “invigorating” and something that “allows him to transcend his body”. Despite this truly inspirational sentiment, the film is also clear-eyed in its depiction of the physical toll that this work takes and heart wrenching in its direct witness of the personal sacrifice represented by spending precious days far away from his wife and rapidly-developing toddler son.
In some ways the documentary is the story of grassroots political organizing, of big tear-jerking rallies with Bernie Sanders, pivots to protesting the Kavanaugh nomination with dramatic and moving protests with other disabled activists in the halls of Congress, and engaging the 2020 presidential candidates to stake a position on Medicare for All. But it is also a uncommon chronicle of one man’s declining health, from the marvels of assistive speaking devices to the practicalities of around-the-clock care, looming decisions about the timing of a tracheostomy, and choices about family planning. Bookended by his emotional testimony at a congressional hearing, the film largely succeeds in intertwining inextricable issues of the personal and the political in a deeply moving portrait of the tenacity of the human spirit to transcend obstacles in service of improving our democracy.
Not Going Quietly premiered at SXSW in the Documentary Features competition; it is playing several other festivals and is currently seeking distribution. (Cover image: Ady Barkan and his son Carl. | Credit: Michael Dwyer, People’s Television)