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Review

A powerful and emotionally moving documentary that delves into the nature of sexual identity as it relates to the senseless injustice of the brutal murder of a young female to male transsexual. In 1993, Brandon Teena was a fresh-scrubbed young man of twenty who moved to the small town of Falls City, Nebraska. He soon began dating girls. But the truth came out that he was biologically a woman, a discovery that prompted two of his former friends to beat and rape him. After going to the shockingly indifferent authorities, she went into hiding, only to be discovered and then killed, along with two friends. A bleak tale, but one that is given exhaustive and heart-felt handling by the filmmakers who had extraordinary access to all of the involved; from Brandon’s mother and sister, his female lovers (who claim “he know how to treat a lady”), friends, the police and even the imprisoned killers. Compiling their extraordinary stories into a portrait, what comes across is the all-too-short life of a troubled young person who found her real self in living as a man, only to see it snatched away by fearful transphobia, and ignorance. Much of the information in the film formed the basis of the 1999 fiction film Boys Don't Cry. Winner: Teddy Award Best Documentary, The Berlin Film Festival 1998 and Best Documentary, 1998 Vancouver Film Festival

 -- Raymond Murray