Many have debated for a very long time about what are the best films of each city. Simple Google searches will bring up dozens of lists of “The 25 Best Films That Capture Los Angeles”, or the “100 Best New York Films”, and more. These lists are focused on films that capture the essence of a city the best, and which ones show you what these places are really like. Of course, much of this has been focused on the big names; you’ll find plenty of lists on New York, L.A., and Paris, but not often will you see cities like Milwaukee get a mention. Give Me Liberty, director Kirill Mikhanovsky’s second feature, attempts to do just that: capture Milwaukee like never before.
The film’s story follows one day when a riot breaks out in Milwaukee against police brutality, and medical transport driver Vic (Christ Gulast) is torn between his promise to get his relatives, a group of elderly Russians, to a funeral and his desire to help Tracy (Lolo Spencer), a headstrong young black woman in a wheelchair.
Mikhanovsky himself was born in Russia and moved to the large Russian community living in Milwaukee following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Milwaukee itself is an interesting snapshot of American frailties, having a very high rate of economic inequality and consistently being rated one of the worst cities for African-Americans in terms of economic opportunity and unemployment. It has also had its fair share of high-profile police brutality cases and mass protests/riots, and it often goes under the radar as one of the key metropolitan areas in the US in which horrors of the American economy are in full view.
As chaotic and stressful as any film to come out this year, Give Me Liberty moves at a breakneck pace that only builds the anxiety, frustration, sadness, and hilarity woven intricately throughout the film. It is the story of a young man with the world resting on his shoulders, with so many people relying upon him and his unrelenting and desperate determination not to let anyone down. The weight of his community and of the people he is tasked with caring for is the central focus, yet woven underneath throughout the film are the political threads that truly capture the political state of Milwaukee. The lack of funding for the needs of the disabled community, the struggles against police brutality, the immense economic inequality, and the splintering of underprivileged communities all play key roles throughout the film. As Vic drives hectically from place to place attempting to get his overwhelmingly long list of tasks done in accordance with his boss’s time schedule, he encounters many obstacles and each issue is shown in great detail in simple action. In combination with some of the film’s hilarious moments, many of which resulting from the actions of the elderly Russians, the cacophonous mixture of conflicting emotions and tones allows the film to truly evoke the complex political state of growing up as a young person in today’s America.
Give Me Liberty is truly a whirlwind of a film. Although much of the comedy and the political factors involved in the film can be understood by all, it is the feeling that the film evokes that is perhaps best suited for Gen Z and generations around it. It is a film about the weight of the world being rested upon the shoulders of young people, and their desperate attempts to avoid futility in the face of this.
4/5 STARS