Beyond Hatred (2005) + Our House
(2000/First Run Features)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C-/C+ Documentaries: B-/C+
Two new
documentaries from First Run Features show how Homophobia and hate crimes are
not only still with us, but institutionalized hate, encouraged by irresponsible
people in the mainstream media and even entertainment industry worldwide has
actually caused a resurgence. Especially
when you have a government who stands by and does little about it for a while,
this is what we land up with. From two
different countries, two different situations, but the same root problems,
Olivier Meurou’s Beyond Hatred
(2005) and Meema Spadola’s Our House
(2000) are sobering reminders that all is not well.
Beyond Hatred is about a painful incident in
France where three Skinhead Neo-Nazi types went looking for a “Arab” type to
attack, found a young gay male instead, then verbally insulted him, physically
attacked him and knocked him unconscious, throwing him into a pond where he
drowned to death. Little heard about in
the U.S. for “suspicious reasons” along with who knows how many similar U.S.
cases, we learn about the victim, Francois Chenu. He was only 29 and we see his very much
in-pain parents deal with the court case, the loss and then have the courage to
forgive the killers. Like similar cases
where the family of the victim forgives, it is controversial with its pros and
cons, but this is a thoughtful work that shows it like it happens without much
of anything added to the soundtrack or in the way of much graphic text on
screen. I wanted to learn even more
about all of it, but the nearly 90 minutes offers plenty and is a compelling
look at a tragedy whose roots are all too alive and well.
Our House is about the children of gay
parents and the kinds of ignorance, hatred, stupidity, bigotry, homophobia and
backward thinking such families experience from people all around, including
adults who should know better. The
intimidation is amazing and the fact that there is not more legal action taken
present a shocking problem that is developing into one of the most invisible
crisis in the U.S., though I wish this work had covered that more. Instead, we see the lives of these healthy
family units and the makers never even talk about incest, rape or child abuse
in endless heterosexual family units.
The
letterboxed/windowboxed 1.66 X 1 image on Beyond
and 1.33 X 1 image on House in both
cases are a little rough and done on a low budget, but are watchable and made
as well as can be expected under the circumstances. Softness and odd color from transfers are
noticed throughout both. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 on each is barely stereo and sometimes hard to hear, but are on the
professional side. Beyond extras include relevant trailers, while House extras include updates of the four separate families
featured, a making of featurette and more about a support group.
- Nicholas Sheffo
