A rising star in progressive politics and a new father, 32-year-old Ady Barkan's life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS. But after a confrontation with powerful Senator Jeff Flake on an airplane goes viral, catapulting him to national fame, Ady and a motley crew of activists ignite a once-in-a-generation political movement called "Be a Hero." Together, they barnstorm across the country and empower people to confront their elected officials with emotional, personal stor... (Full plot summary below)
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A rising star in progressive politics and a new father, 32-year-old Ady Barkan's life is upended when he is diagnosed with ALS. But after a confrontation with powerful Senator Jeff Flake on an airplane goes viral, catapulting him to national fame, Ady and a motley crew of activists ignite a once-in-a-generation political movement called "Be a Hero." Together, they barnstorm across the country and empower people to confront their elected officials with emotional, personal stories to demand health-care justice and Ady holds groundbreaking interviews with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. As Ady rises to become Politico's "Most Powerful Activist in America," he discovers that collective action and speaking truth to power offers hope for his family and millions of others.
Leave your thoughts about Not Going Quietly.
| The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeBarkan proves a highly engaging man, impassioned but funnier than a terminally ill man should be. Intimate scenes with his young family are essential to the appeal of a film whose big issues remain as pressing now as they were during filming in 2018. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreNot Going Quietly lets us see a fierce, and dying, advocate for health care show us what John Lewis meant by “Good trouble.” |
| IndieWireEric KohnThe movie makes its points in grand, emotional gestures more than policy nuances, but what it lacks in sophistication it makes up in immediacy. The drama acts as a visceral of ode to the nature of activism under dire circumstances. |
| VarietyTomris LafflyAlong with his editor Kent Bassett, Bruckman weaves these events together rather conventionally yet thoughtfully, making plenty of room for Barkan’s home life and appealingly chipper character that he somehow manages to maintain through all his battles. |
| RogerEbert.comNell MinowHealth care is unquestionably one of the most complicated problems the government ever has to grapple with, even without the obstacles and obfuscation from dark money and corporate lobbyists. We do not need a briefing book, but the film would be more effective if it clarified some of the priorities Barkan and his group are advocating. |
| Austin ChronicleCody SongThe film shines when we get to see Barkan as a fully formed figure. |
| The New York TimesTeo BugbeeIt is a warm and generous portrait, but the film lacks its central organizer’s propulsive shrewdness. |
| TheWrapSimon AbramsNot Going Quietly credibly highlights the “moral stakes” of Barkan’s cause, as one of his colleague says, with a welcome mix of candor and artful consideration. |
| The GuardianLeslie FelperinSmart, funny and endearingly sweary even when he loses the power to speak without computer assistance, Barkan is a charismatic character who’s easy to like, although one wonders how much the documentary crew resisted showing anything that might dent the halo the film sets round his head. |
