Saturday, September 22, 2007 GB fest viewer feedback<http://68pages.blogspot.com/2007/09/gb-fest-viewer-feedback.html>
http://68pages.blogspot.com/2007/09/gb-fest-viewer-feedback.html Feedback by a viewer at GB film fest: 68 Pages - the Humsafar Trust movie "Deep" I watched this movie a few hours ago at a Gay Bombay film show at National College, Bandra, Mumbai. A sensitive portrayal of "minorities" and issues most Indians would rather brush under the carpet. The movie is "on your face" without being apologetic about it. The characters have been played by superb actors and all, except Uday Sonawane, are professional stage artists. Uday has acted very well indeed and should seriously take up acting. It does not paint a pretty picture of either the gay community or the lives of cross dressers. It does not sugar-coat the harshness of HIV. And therein lies its beauty. It does take some dramatic licenses on the role of the counselor - no mental health professional can afford to get so close to her patients. Nor are HIV test reports handed over to people without pre-counseling. But these minor aberrations can be excused considering that the movie has to move on. I have been to the Humsafar Center (at Vakola, Santa Cruz, Mumbai)several times and have observed, with detachment and some disdain, the people who frequent there. "Class" raises its ugly head to a middle class newbie at the Humsafar counseling center. This movie reminds us that, "there, but for the grace of God, go I". Are they so very different from us? The cross dressers and the prostitutes? As Mansi the counselor thinks of the prostitute weeping at the hospital door – who are we discriminating against? The HIV patient, the prostitute or the woman? They are human beings all. With hopes, fears and ambitions. When the Indian government doles out condoms to truck drivers and commercial sex workers it forgets that prostitution has little to do with sex and a lot to do with money. In the movie, when the cross dresser says that he knew about the dangers of contracting HIV without using "chocolate" (condom) and still went ahead, he brings a harsh reality to the fore - how many CSWs, when faced with starvation, will refuse a client who insists on going "bare-back"? I am gay and the antics of the gay couple in the movie held special interest for me. I rooted for them and expected them to stay together in the end. Alas it did not happen! It certainly doesn't fit my picture of monogamous gay relationship – an "LTR" (Long Term Relationship)! But, hey!, life is not about coochie-cooing gay lovers in the drawing room who live together happily ever after. Let's face it – there is enough and more promiscuity in the gay world. Most of us stop at the ideal. All in all, a great movie for the thinking audience. ===================================== *68 Pages* *Marked by Pain, Bound by Hope* 90min Hindi India 2007 Coming from a country like India that is still in denial, where being HIV+ is still a curse, '68 Pages' rips open the underbelly of its society to reveal how it stigmatizes and shuns those who are HIV+ or even those who just want to be what they are. Through 68 Pages of a counselors diary, we see the stories of Paayal, a sex worker; Nishit, an ID user; Kiran, a gay man and Umrao, a transsexual bar dancer – their stories of pain and fear, humiliation and rejection – not only by the society, but even by their loved ones. While these stories expose the shallowness of the system, it also offers hope and healing by trying to bring about a better understanding of their fight to live with dignity. The film is a tribute to the human spirit of optimism and survival. <http://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=2734592917007653424&widgetType=Text&widgetId=Text1&action=editWidget> -- www.gaybombay.in www.gaybombay.info
