Southern Comfort

          The second movie I checked out  this week (and didn't return) was Southern Comfort, a film we've screened in class a couple of times and one that Ellen talks about a lot as an interesting example of a character-based documentary. I think this film is also a great example of the power of personal narratives. The film was obviously made for very, very little money. The footage is awful not white-balanced. The audio isn't all that great. There doesn't seem to be any lighting aside from incidental lights and natural sunlight. There's nothing fancy about the editing style, the narrative structure or the score.

          Nevertheless, Southern Comfort is still a very powerful and tragic story. As someone who has shot a "documentary," at least that's what I call it, on a dinky DV camera and edited together on Final Cut, the movie is inspiring. So much is accomplished by the filmmakers just by being there, capturing every moment - important or insignificant.

          The film follows a transsexual couple, Robert and Lola, one of who is a FtM (female-to-male) who is dying of ovarian/cervical cancer, as they try to make one last trip to Southern Comfort, an annual trans conference in the southern United States. The movie presents interesting opinions on class issues in the queer communities and how transgender identities are so often ignored, invisible or oppressed in both the mainstream United States and even in the queer community.

          For those of you who have rented/enjoyed/seen Tarnation, Paris is Burning, or any other queer/trans docs, I think you'll really enjoy this movie. It's very simple and humble and personal, but I believe that anyone can get into this film.