Review by Amos Lassen
By: Amos Lassen
"DREAM BOAT"
Looking for Paradise
Amos Lassen
Tristan Ferland Milewski's "Dream Boat" follows a ship that is filled with gay men hoping to find paradise on the open seas. On the boat they are far from their families a...
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"DREAM BOAT"
Looking for Paradise
Amos Lassen
Tristan Ferland Milewski's "Dream Boat" follows a ship that is filled with gay men hoping to find paradise on the open seas. On the boat they are far from their families and political restrictions. "Dream Boat" follows five men from five countries on a quest for connection. Open waters are the perfect place to explore the ecstasy, agony, hopes, and dreams that bridge this community behind the parties and we see "a manifest rife with intersections between the diverse identities aboard, a brotherhood across borders".
Dream Boat heads to sea for a very special reason. For a week, gay men from quite different countries have an island of security, on which they can celebrate. As soon as the Dream Boat enters the Mediterranean Sea, the passengers are greeted with expectant glances. They show a lot of naked skin that they decorate with erotic outfits. We see their colorful party activities and try to understand the wishes and questions. The men quickly form a community in which worship of the body and sexuality are celebrated. There are theme parties and the man bring their costumes that range from the imaginative and playful clothes to feather boas, high-heeled shoes, push-up swimwear and black leather. In the open air dance and body contact is sought even though one of the men is disappointed on edge. He believes that the looks of the men first check out the butt and the penis while paying no attention to the person.
The theme of youth and beauty plays an important role but the men also talk about the fear of aging and loneliness. In the course of the seven days on board, it becomes increasingly clear that a life partner is not likely to be found here but the experiences that the men share are wild and wonderful. The cruise takes away burden of social repression for a short time, with a group of like-minded people. The men are simply having fun. Aside from the five men at the center( and I realize that I have said nothing about them), there are another 2995 men on board.
It is through the five men that we hear of the issues of youth cult and fear of aging, beauty ideals and the longing for true love. However, this seems only secondary to the good times being had by all.
I once heard someone say that there are two types of gay men: those who love the idea of a gay cruise where they can let it all hang out and those for whom the mere thought of such a venture is detestable. How audiences react to this film depends on which of the two they identify with. Our five men are from different nationalities but share some of the same issues. The Cruise is an all-male week-long voyage from Lisbon to the Canary Islands. It is like a week long rave filled with beautiful bodies that are on display all of the time. Charms does not mean anything among the intimidating array of thousands of supermen wearing tiny Speedos. They all may want to be loved for what's inside but they know that packaging gets all the attention. We meet Polish-born, UK resident Marek, with a beautiful face and body that would attract most appreciators of the male form, yet he does not have the confidence to know what to do with his physical charms. For Indian Dipankar, who lives in Dubai, the cruise begins as a lesson in how to feel lonely amidst thousands but he does claim that he learned something while on board.. French Philippe is in a wheelchair, the result of a meningitis infection 20 years earlier. Although traveling with his indulgent partner, he wonders what sort of luck he'd have with all these hot guys if he had been single. Palestinian Ramzi is on board with his Belgian partner, celebrating the latter's recovery from cancer. The fifth is Martin from Austria who is the least developed of the bunch and living with HIV.
Marek, Dipankar and Ramzi have suffered from homophobia at home and the cruise offers them a sense of solidarity; Philippe and Martin have moved beyond questions of acceptance. All of them except Martin express unhappiness with the gay community's emphasis on the form fantastic, and even Ramzi, no slouch in the muscle department, has a moment of insight when he comments on the standardization of gay male beauty; there is a lot of repetition with the same designer beard, the same clothes and the same biceps.
These thoughtful moments of doubt are taken over by endless semi-naked tea dances, high-heel races, dress-up parties, and bodies with beautiful bulges. It is all just too fabulous and hedonistic. Unfortunately, the documentary seems even less self-aware than most of the passengers. Everyone on board is a performer whether they're aware of it or not.
With nearly 3,000 gay men on board, there's plenty of opportunity for freedom, love and happiness but the stories that we would expect to get are not the ones we hear and what we do hear is enlightening.
Throughout the film, there are more than enough gratuitous shots of men's crotches and bulges and while nothing is overtly sexual, there are plenty of butts and the occasional penis on display and one slightly graphic but brief scene on the dance floor.
The sexuality of the gay cruise is interspersed with the interviews from the men on board. Even though the film seems to reveal a lot of what a gay cruise is like, there is still a lot of mystery about what really goes on. There is, however, no mystery about emotions and these are wide open.
We see and hear filmed interviews in the men's' private cabins, stories of their lives at home and how they differ from live on board the gay cruise. Dipankar describes the boat as "a sea of opportunities" and, in one poignant scene between him and Marek, he admits to having had sex with five or sex men while Marek has had none. Nonetheless, Dipankar feels lonely on board and even skips a party. As appealing as a boat full of gay men might sound, it is terrifying and challenging for some. A few of the men discuss the constant judgment within the gay community and the longtime popular opinion that being gay makes you part of a larger, global LGBT family. While several of the men seem to undergo stressful or depressing moments on board, the atmosphere is by and large very gay and jovial, upbeat and happy. There's always a party to go to. In the end, "Dream Boat" shows us more than what a gay cruise might be like, but also what it feels like to be gay today and we become aware of a conflicting mix of emotions and desires that hampers our looking for