I just saw "
Boys don't cry" for the first time on DVD last night, and am still trying to recover from the shock/pain/immense sorrow. I had heard of the film, as a good film to watch, which dealt with homosexuality, but I didn't read anything (not even the synopsis on the jacket really) before I watched. Even though I thought it was fiction, I was 'living' the bloody thing as I was watching. But oh, when I read at the end what happened to the main characters in
real life and realised it was a true story, my blood curled. I froze and felt SO much for Brandon/Teena
Which brings me to this reflection: as a typical European, I oppose capital punishment. I know, it is easy for me, not having come remotely close in real life to anyone who has ever been seriously mugged. But when I read on the screen that one of the culprits had been sentenced to death and was trying to have his sentence commuted, my gut reaction
that second was "you can bloody well die, you bastard!". Then 2 seconds later I came round and thought "and what good will it do Brandon/Teena?"
This was like a test for me: I felt so much for this girl/boy, and hated the rapists'/murderers' guts so much, I still quickly found it in myself, in my reasoning, to oppose that bastard's death sentence.
But boy, Texas, what a place, hunh??! And that happened in 1993. Makes me all the more certain that Jack
was murdered.