Kills On Wheels

A movie that was made in the wrong genre. It's not a drama, it's a bad documentary. Disturbing subplots obscure the point and frustrate the viewer. The film is based on short life situations presented one after the other. The topic is the vulnerability of people with disabilities. It is surprising that even those living on the periphery of society exploit them to the extreme. In various ways and purposes, with underworld means. Abandoning the classical literary structure did not work, and the plot's main line is therefore missing. The character portrayals are well done, this is one of the few positives of the film. The creators use too many tools for this stripped-down theme and could add little to the well-known ideas!

Funny, smart, emotional & well acted this is one of the most refreshing surprises I watched over the past few years.

I hope Hollywood do NOT remake it.

Impressive Hungarian film set in and around a rehabilitation centre where two physically disabled young men attempting to create a graphic novel are befriended by a confident and rather angry and aggressive guy in a wheelchair recently released from prison. His incapacity would seem to have come from his duties as a fireman as opposed to birth defect but nevertheless strikes up a relationship with the pair. All fine and set for some bitter sweet and sentimental tale but no this does not go down the expected route and the clue is in the English title. Extremely well directed, this difficult subject, naturalistically dealt with and injected with the extra ingredients of separated parents and talk of expensive life saving operation explodes in our faces with Serbian gangs, drug deals and extreme violence. Kills on wheels, indeed.

'Kills on Wheels' has a title that is indeed simplistic, and doesn't really do justice to a film that one would think looking at the title that it was a generic gangster/hit-man film but is actually much more than that and is most notable for how its treatment and depictions of disabilities.

The film may be a touch contrived in places, but that aside it turned out to be one of my favourites of the year (it's counted as a 2016 film but was released in this country a few weeks ago). 'Kills on Wheels' balances comedy, drama and action incredibly well, in a pretty much spot on way that a lot of films with this balance would only dream of doing so well. 'Kills on Wheels' is not to be mistaken for another gangster/hit-man film and a generic one, it is the rare sort of film these days that is tough and dark on the outside but is very warm and heartfelt when it comes to the substance.

Lets talk about 'Kills on Wheels' different elements. There are many times where it's very darkly funny with a refreshing edgy wit, while the action is uncompromisingly brutal, tense and exciting with some inventive choreography. Most surprising were the dramatic elements, there is some sentimentality here with the money for operation sub-plot but instead of being mawkish or heavy-handed this was done in a way that was genuinely moving and heartfelt, also found it very easy to relate to.

Most striking about 'Kills on Wheels' is how it handles disability and its attitude towards it. As a disabled person myself (epilepsy and having had an operation for scoliosis, also have Aspergers Syndrome though my problems are nothing compared to the disabilities of the characters here), 'Kills on Wheels' really resonated with me and its treatment of disabilities was done with inspirational honesty. Also really admired the film's guts to address all the preconceptions and generalisations of disabilities and challenge them, something that is really truthfully done, the disabilities depicted here (including paralysis and cerebral palsy, both awful to live with and have real admiration for anybody going through it and doing their best to overcome them) are deserving to be addressed and made aware of far more than it is.

It ('Kills on Wheels') is a very well made film too. Especially in the ingeniously shot and edited action sequences and its deft handling of its mix of cinematic styles. The direction is tight and controlled, it's tautly paced and the script is beautifully balanced and smartly written.

Zoltan Fenyvesi, Szabolcs Thuroczy and Adam Fekete all give brave and inspirational performances and make their struggles powerfully real. Dusan Vitanovic similarly plays adeptly and provokes chills.

Overall, wonderful and has so much more to it than one would think reading the title. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I loved this movie because it was fresh, funny and the actors were amazing. I expected the usual nihilism of a Hungarian movie and I got great amusement. I also found the acting very credible. There's a little twist at the end, and hints all along that there would be one, but I guess the story would work without it anyway. And that's because the emotions and tensions shown are real, no hypocrisy. Sometimes social media and these positivity sites and articles try to make us believe that it's all right to live in a wheelchair. Well, in fact, life in a wheelchair just sucks. And that's the truth. But you can go ahead, struggle, make some progress, try to handle it the best possible way, but hey folks, let's just not be rosy here. Humour, though. It helps. It always does.

One more thing: there is a small scene where Zolika is out in his wheelchair on a sunny and tranquil day on a touristy square of Budapest and an elderly lady tries to give him small change and he does not accept it. That scene I found the most heart breaking, even though it is not very important from the story point of view. But it is so typical, how good hearted people are mismanaging the encounters with disabled people, due to lack of integration and education.

The Hungarian title means "With Full Heart" and that is how I recommend this movie.