"Boys Don't Cry"
Last night I watched the movie “Boys Don’t Cry,” about a 19-year-old girl facing a sexual identity crisis. This girl, Teena Brandon, played by Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar for her role, cuts off all of her hair and tries to pass herself off as a boy. Eventually run out of her hometown, she finds sanctuary in the small town of Falls City, Neb. There she lives as Brandon Teena.
Brandon does pretty well for himself. He becomes friendly with some locals and starts dating a girl named Lana, played by Chloë Sevigny. After that, the movie, which is based on a true story, is quite predictable. Everyone finds out who Brandon really is and a series of events result in his murder. (I am not giving anything away. It says on the back of the DVD case that Brandon is murdered.)
I liked this movie a great deal, especially the love story between Lana and Brandon. Despite many graphic and violent scenes that make the movie hard to stomach, I found it to be powerful and well done.
More interesting to me though was this Web site It looks at the real Brandon Teena and Lana Tisdel and discusses what people involved in the story thought of the movie. Not surprisingly, many people objected to the film’s depiction of the town and the characters.
Lana Tisdel and JoAnn Brandon (Teena Brandon’s mother) both disliked the film. Lana objected to the portrayal of her as an alcoholic. However, much more resounding than her drinking habits was the fact that after she figured out who Brandon actually was, she still loved him. It seems to me that this caring, devoted, and accepting image was a positive one. Plus, Chloë Sevigny is a lot prettier than the real Lana Tisdel.
JoAnn Brandon objected to the fact that people were profiting from her daughter’s death. While that pain is vaild and I have to respect that, it seemed that, overall, the movie was in honor of Brandon Teena / Teena Brandon. It was clear that those involved with the movie cared about the people in the story, not just the money.
The story was tragic. There is no way to tell the whole thing and make everyone look really good. But I thought that the human and compelling way “Boys Don’t Cry” depicted the story was honorable.
— Sarah Pfander
Comments
There is also a documentary about this tragedy(The Teena Brandon Story) that has actual audio dialogues from her arrest and interviews with the real peole of the story. It is probably available at UIUC. It provides a little more fatcual foundation.
Posted by: Lisa New Freeland | February 15, 2007 9:19 AM