Disability Representation in Film: Sound of Metal and Give Me Liberty

It isn’t just rare for an Amazon film to be released on DVD, it’s virtually unheard of. So when the 2019 film Sound of Metal entered the catalog of the Criterion Collection and was slated for physical release, Jess knew we had to highlight it. Sound of Metal reflects the deterioration of hearing for a avant-garde metal drummer, which leads to the deterioration of both his job and his relationship with his bandmate/partner. While Ruben struggles to find a way in his newly deaf world, he meets roadblock after roadblock, from financial problems to difficulties accessing medical care and a struggle to even find a place to stay, especially after giving up his beloved RV to pay for Cochlear impants.

We wanted to compare Sound of Metal with another recent film about characters with disabilities, Give Me Liberty. Also shot in 2019, Give Me Liberty follows a day of comic and manic errors in the life of a medical transport driver, whose position requires him to wrangle those with disabilities and, inadvertently, his extremely Russian family to get them to a funeral for his aunt. Give Me Liberty also puts up roadblock after roadblock, sometimes literally, as chaos ensues both inside and outside the transport van.

Through their cinematography, editing and sound design, both films provide a white-knuckle ride through the worlds of their main characters while applying razor-sharp focus to the real societal issues that people with disabilities face in America. Both films also provide us with two amazing non-human characters: the vans. We’re discussing both those topics, and far more, in this episode.