It is hard to write this review without having powerful emotions evoked by this movie bubble to the surface. What begins as a chronicle of the great Freedom Convoy that began in late January 2022 at Cape Reinga and Bluff, culminates in the month long protest on the grounds of NZ's Parliament and its ignominious ending. Given how one-sided the NZ mainstream media were by first refusing to report the massive size of support for the Freedom Convoy then portraying the protestors at Parliament as conspiratorial right wing nutters, the filmmakers give us a brilliant inside look at the convoy and the protest from the point of view of not just the organising insiders but an excellent cross section of the protestors in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and occupation from eloquent lawyers and doctors to esteemed local kaumatua and everyone in between. It gives an accurate sense of the authenticity of the protestors replete with heart wrenching stories from those mandated out from decades of service as nurses, doctors and police to the families of the vx injured.
The cinematography was stunning and, as an expat kiwi who watched aghast from afar NZ's descent into Covid tyranny, it fleshed out much of what l'd seen only snippets of and heard of from a family member also mandated out of work.
Even the title "River of Freedom" is a brilliant counterbalance to one of the most shameful moments during the protest, that of Labour Cabinet minister Michael Wood describing the protestors as "a river of filth". Fortunately, this film stands as an eloquent testament to the brave souls who stood firm for freedom during perhaps one of the darkest periods of NZ's history.
