Give Me Liberty

Vic is of Russian origin and a medical transport driver in Milwaukee. A tiny problem: he is excessively adorable! He wants to please everyone and he is desperately unable to say 'no' even when it's the only correct answer. So, as riots erupt in the city, his day will quickly become nightmarish.

The actors Lauren 'Lolo' Spencer (Tracy), Chris Galust (Vic) and Maksim Stoyanov (Dima) are unknown (from me at least) but excellent. The director Kirill Mikhanovsky shows a deeply moving humanism with regard to these outcasts. An excellent Russian-American surprise!

Give Me Liberty (2019) was co-written and directed by Kirill Mikhanovsky. Chris Galust lays Vic, a young man who drives a medical transport van. Lauren 'Lolo' Spencer portrays Tracy, one of his passengers. Maxim Stoyanov is Dima, a giant of a man who may or may not be what he says he is.

The problem for Vic is that he does more for his clients than just drive them--he's sort of their social worker as well. He also does more for his grandfather's friends, who are older Jewish people from Russia, and who need transportation.

As the van goes careening down the Milwaukee streets, Vic keeps telling the dispatcher "I'm going to Eisenhower." I thought Eisenhower was a highway, but instead it's the Eisenhower Center vocational training program that helps people with disabilities. Some of the scenes are shot within the Eisenhower Center, and they present the clients in a positive and respectful way. That's one of the strengths of the movie.

The film has some funny scenes, but it also has some disturbing scenes of violent interactions between police and protestors. So, although in the very basic sense it's a love story, it's not for everyone.

Give Me Liberty would work well in a theater, but it was OK on the small screen. It has a dismal IMDb rating of 6.6. It's not a great movie, but I thought that rating was too low, and rated it 8.

A perfect surrealistic picture of life as it is. With all its diversity, sadness, happiness, loyalty, compassion and love. A film that moves you and gives you hope, makes you think and reconsider a number of things in life. Ad leaves you with this sweet feeling that in the end of the day love will save us all.

This film is about listening to your own voice, your conscience, to remain human. Shot with a dynamic documentary camera and authentic, but non-professional actors, it has a feeling of hyper realism, even though it is a fiction film. It might be overwhelming to watch it till the end, as there are a lot of characters and storylines, but isn't it America in it's essence - the land of immigrants, who have to work hard to reach the American dream? In this day and night struggle you might be in denial about your roots, but you're always free to choose your own destiny.

Anyone who has the ability to say "no" to people who try to take advantage of them will find this movie at times intolerable.

I don't happen to come from an overbearing family who expect me to orient my entire life around helping them, so I had trouble relating to the main character in this movie or to feel any sympathy for him. That main character is Vic, a young man who spends his days shuttling people with disabilities to one place and another. Some of these people are sweet and kind, but many of them are jerks. On the particular day on which this movie is set, he also agrees as a favor to taxi a group of old, horrible people to a funeral (apparently taxis, Lyfts, and public transportation don't exist in Milwaukee) and adds Dima, the movie's most noxious character, to his passenger list. Dima is a gross, hairy dude who aggressively makes sexual advances at every woman he comes across (Vic's sister among them) despite being told "no," until every woman eventually finds him so irresistible that they give in (nice message). The film is one prolonged note of chaos, as Vic valiantly tries to go about his duties while everyone yells at him, complains about how he's doing things, and makes you wonder why he doesn't drive them all off a cliff.

Vic also has a mom, who calls him over to her apartment to move a sofa in the middle of his work day and then proceeds to berate him about how he has no direction in life and should get a better job.

The film has the feel of a personal memoir, and I'm assuming this was life to a certain extent as experienced by it's writer and director. But I spent the whole movie wondering why Vic didn't just grow a pair, kick all of the freeloaders off his van (or better yet, never offer to give them a ride in the first place) and get on with his life.

There are good things about the movie. It's assuredly directed (except for the ending, an implausible mess of a scene set at a jail protest) and it's well acted by a group of unknowns. It clearly wants to bring awareness to the marginalized, and I welcome any stories that put front and center those who society normally pushes to the fringes. But it's too undisciplined and one-note to wholeheartedly recommend.

Grade: B