Review: Documentary 'Not Going Quietly' shows how activist Ady Barkan builds a movement while his body gives out from ALS.

Political activism gets up close and personal in the documentary “Not Going Quietly,” a personal and intense profile of Ady Barkan, who is gaining and losing his voice at the same time.

Barkan had been known as a liberal activist and founder of the Fed Up campaign, lobbying for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy more fair to low-income people. In 2016, shortly after he and his wife — Rachael King, an English professor at UC-Santa Barbara — welcomed their son, Carl, Barkan was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. That’s the degenerative neurological disease that’s best known because of two famous people who had it: Baseball legend Lou Gehrig and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

Barkan feels a literal deadline — his doctor gives him three or four years to live — and doesn’t want to waste time. He starts campaigning to save Medicare, particularly threatened by the Trump administration’s tax cuts for the rich. On a flight back from D.C., Barkan sees Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., sitting in first class — and when Flake comes back to coach to talk to him, Barkan urges the waffling senator to “be a hero” and vote against the Medicare cuts. The video of their encounter goes viral, with the hashtag #FlakesOnAPlane.

Barkan then teams with Liz Jaff, an activist who shot the video, to try to create more viral moments. They organize the “Be a Hero” tour, taking an RV — with modifications to accommodate Barkan’s motorized wheelchair — to 30 congressional districts in 18 states, to either lobby or shame congresspeople, or flip their seats to the Democrats in 2018. (One of the districts he visited was Utah’s 3rd District, held then and now by Republican Chris Stewart.)

The irony that director Nicholas Bruckman and his crew capture on the tour is how Barkan’s influence as a liberal champion is growing at the same time his physical strength and speaking voice are diminishing. Barkan narrates much of his film, and we hear his voice fading — to the point where he has to use a computer voice generator.

Bruckman and his team take full advantage of the crew’s access in Barkan’s home, the RV on tour, hotel and motel rooms, and eventually the halls of Congress — where Barkan delivered impassioned testimony at the first House committee hearing to discuss “Medicare for All.” The film deftly toggles between the public politicking and the private moments of Barkan with Rachael and Carl, trying to be a good husband and dad as his body is failing him.

“Not Going Quietly” is, in the end, a celebration of Barkan’s indomitable spirit, and the power of determination and righteous activism. If you’re looking for a hero, here’s a good place to start.

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‘Not Going Quietly’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, August 27, at the Megaplex at The Gateway (Salt Lake City); available to stream starting September 3, on the Salt Lake Film Society virtual cinema, SLFS@Home. Not rated, but probably PG-13 for language. Running time: 95 minutes.