In spite of the protests. In spite of the bad reviews. I saw the movie. I went to see it on its own merits. To me, history depends on who wrote it. And, accuracy is never a top priority. I can't think of any movie that is based on real events or real people that was completely accurate. For instance, the recent film "Iron Lady". I doubt it had scenes where Thatcher dismantled social services, and ripped cartons of milk out of school kids hands.
Hell, history in life is never fully accurate. Many times I have had conflicts with people because they didn't remember things that happened like I did. Chief among their excuses are, "I don't remember. I don't know what you're talking about."
But, back to "Stonewall". It was a better film, and more accurate than the movie "Stonewall" of 1995. Perhaps it's because this year's film had more than $12.50 as a budget.
Suspiciously, both films center on a Latino drag queen, and a white boy just off the bus.
Which leads to my problem with this years "Stonewall". The script. When they could have created an interesting story to follow, they went with plot points that have come from other films. Even "Brokeback Mountain". Toward the end of the film, I expected Danny to say to his high school chum, "I wish I knew how to quit you." Actually, the whole end of the film went off the rails in my opinion. There was a point where a character seemed to look into a crystal ball to say that everything had changed, only one day after the riots. But, before that was hit or miss. It was an hour into it that I realized that the movie should have centered more on the relationship between Danny and Ray. Maybe it did, and I wasn't paying attention.
I hope that the film makes people learn more about the riots, and how gay life was. What happened before, and what happened after. What they are apt to learn is that history is rarely accurate. That those who tell of it sometimes fudge the facts, and contradict others.
Also, to learn from it so that history is not repeated.
Hell, history in life is never fully accurate. Many times I have had conflicts with people because they didn't remember things that happened like I did. Chief among their excuses are, "I don't remember. I don't know what you're talking about."
But, back to "Stonewall". It was a better film, and more accurate than the movie "Stonewall" of 1995. Perhaps it's because this year's film had more than $12.50 as a budget.
Suspiciously, both films center on a Latino drag queen, and a white boy just off the bus.
Which leads to my problem with this years "Stonewall". The script. When they could have created an interesting story to follow, they went with plot points that have come from other films. Even "Brokeback Mountain". Toward the end of the film, I expected Danny to say to his high school chum, "I wish I knew how to quit you." Actually, the whole end of the film went off the rails in my opinion. There was a point where a character seemed to look into a crystal ball to say that everything had changed, only one day after the riots. But, before that was hit or miss. It was an hour into it that I realized that the movie should have centered more on the relationship between Danny and Ray. Maybe it did, and I wasn't paying attention.
I hope that the film makes people learn more about the riots, and how gay life was. What happened before, and what happened after. What they are apt to learn is that history is rarely accurate. That those who tell of it sometimes fudge the facts, and contradict others.
Also, to learn from it so that history is not repeated.