hutuanga

This is a coming of age story about a young gay man who likes to film people with is movie camera. He films absolutely everyone who is involved in his life but his family, his straight friend and his mother's boyfriend are the main subjects of his intense study.

It's actually a very unusual film and the way it is shown through the lens of the boy's camera is an approach to story telling that I have not seen in any other film. It records his passage through about a year of his adolescence, with plenty of candid and close up studies of his mother and grandmother as well as the two main men in his life, who both happen to be quite handsome men. It also records how he falls in love with his friend and his disappointment when he realises that his friend is definitely straight! Because of the unusual approach in filming it may not be to everyone's liking but it certainly left me feeling good. It's really quite a beautiful story.

This is a film that I liked because it reminded me of my own hitch-hiking road trips as a young gay man in Australia and New Zealand. Felix is a very likable character and I enjoyed going along on his trip with him!!!

I also found it interesting to get a glimpse of life in France from the perspective of a gay man who has some North African blood in him. I liked the way the film focused on his relationships with the people he met along the way, all of his encounters were heart warming and humorous. I especially liked the way he related with the elderly woman who invited him back home to her place.

It took a while before I was able to see this movie as I live in a remote area in Australia and I only go to the city once a year. Apart from what I thought was great acting by all of the characters, the film really hit the spot with me because finally there is a film which portrays homosexual men who live in the bush. It's a good feeling to be acknowledged! I never got married myself, but during my life I have 'lost' a few partners who I loved very deeply. Just like Ennis the prospect of them being found out was just too overwhelming and they got married. One of my friends committed suicide because he was unable to cope with the denigration of being a known homosexual within a bigoted community.

The cinemas in the town nearest to me refused to screen Brokeback Mountain, I suppose they just didn't want to accept the fact that yes there are gay cowboys hidden amongst us.

So I'd like to thank everyone who was involved in getting that story out into the mainstream, it's going to make it just a little easier for the thousands of rural and outback men like myself to accept and feel proud to be who we are. And for our heterosexual brothers and mates to begin to accept us.