The Ride Ahead

The Ride Ahead was watched as part of the Seattle International Film Festival 2024! It had its showing on Saturday, May 11th as part of the festival, and it was the Seattle premiere of this film! You can see my interview with the codirectors, here! 

Documentaries that are slices of life feature can go so many ways. They can be dreadfully boring. They can be insightful. They can make you grow as a person. What happens with them really is more so up to the viewer. The documentary is saying here I am, this is me, take it or leave it. And then the viewer has to take it, or leave it.

Sometimes the slice of life has a greater message like. Hey. Be good to people. Or. Hey. Treat me like a person. Quite reasonable asks.

The Ride Ahead is about Samuel, who at the time of the documentary is 21, and adult, and he doesn’t feel like an adult. People treat him like a child, like someone who needs delicate gloves to handle. Sure, he is confined to a chair. He has cerebral palsy. He has epilepsy. A swallowing disorder. Talking is hard and he needs caretakers to function. But that is his life, and he is just trying to live his best life possible. Just because he has caretakers that are both paid by the state, and his parents, doesn’t mean he is less deserving of having a life, or deserves to be treated like a kid.

People suck, let an adult be an adult. That was my main take away from the documentary.

Reviewing a film about someone interviewing people? Okay, I guess there is a little bit more. One of the main reasons this documentary exists is that Sam, being patronized his entire life, feels like he isn’t sure what it means to really be an adult, especially as someone with his condition. He doesn’t feel like one, not just because of how he is treated. Adults are meant to have relationships, to find love, to have sex, to gain jobs, to live alone, and more.

And so Sam seeks out others who have been in his position before, who seem to have figured things out, and just straight up get their advice. He interviews a ton of people, including Maysoon Zayid, Ali Stroker, Keith Jones, and Judith Heumann, who did pass away last year. Sam doesn’t beat around the edge, he asks hard questions and gets some hard answers. And some awkward questions!

I love how realistic this thing keeps things. Sure there are some celebrities and famous people here, and it is probably hard to book them for documentaries, no matter the project. But they felt welcoming, and helpful to the task.

As a documentary, like I noted at the start, this is a slice of life thing. If you don’t want to see about his life, you won’t like the movie. If you know people like Sam, it might not do anything for you. But for a lot of people, it is a great look at people in our country, whom have difficulties with basic things that there shouldn’t need to be difficulties with. The chair does a lot of work, but it doesn’t help if there is no drivable land around the town or sidewalks. A general search for equity is how many people should want our world to grow and be shaped. And this documentary does a good job of making some great points.

3 out of 4.