Roland Emmerich is the best chaos of the cinema that works today. His noisiest detractors accused him of being any spectacle and no substance, but I don’t see anyone complaining on July 4 when their fireworks are not enough character development. The subtlety is not the strong costume of Emmerich, and I absolutely love it for that. Give me a spacecraft with “F – The moon” graffitiée on it in a film entitled “MoDorll”. Use the panic of the maya conspiracy theory “2012” to make a film where a guy literally throws his boring child safe in a sacrificial effort. And yes, give me President Bill Pullman delivering a speech from the “independence day” so invigorating, so powerful, he provokes world peace. Emperich is as much a filmmaker as the host of a cinematographic demolition derby with a VFX budget of several million dollars. That is to say that he is an artist of the highest order, and it is not his fault if some snobs cannot understand the level at which he works.
Alas, there are no sacred cows in the world of cinema, and I am ready to admit that even my patron saint of Pancaking Cities can (and will) miss the brand from time to time. However, the films in the event of Emmerich disaster are not even in the same stratosphere compared to his worst film. Known for its science fiction action hybrids, Emmerich has from time to time more “serious” territory, including its mystery of “anonymous” Shakespearian history (of which I am a lourant defender), who borders the fan fiction [complimentary]And his drama of historical historical war “The Patriot”, which, despite its historical inaccuracies, was a “course plans for substitute history teachers” in American public schools for decades.
But it is also the guy who made “Stonewall”, most likely the worst piece of queer cinema ever, with a huge 9% on rotten tomatoes.
A warm white boy did not throw the first brick in Stonewall
While the 1969 Stonewall riots were not the first time that LGBTQIA + American people are fighting against the persecution supported by the government of the community (My kingdom for a quality film on the riot of the Cafeteria Compton 1966), it was a turning point for the movement of homosexuals and liberation not only in the United States but also in the world. The uprising was in response to a planned raid of Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village bar which was one of the few places that allowed LGBTQIA + people to come together freely and to present themselves authentically.
Gay, lesbian, Queer and Trans customers decided that it was enough and retaliated against the police who arose for no other reason than to arrest people for having been gay and cross in public. It is generally indicated that the riot started when someone threw a brick on a cop, but the truth is a little more complicated than that. If there is one thing to be sure, it is however that a warm white boy did not Throw the first brick on Stonewall.
Like Mark Segal, who was actually there, Written for PBS after the release of Emmerich’s film, “” Stonewall “is not interested in any story that does not revolve around its white, male and stereotypical protagonist. It is not a question of shaping Jeremy Irvine, who played Danny, the coarse white boy that Emmerich depicts as having launched the first brick, but to wonder what in Hell What really happened and which was responsible for the fight against the cops.
Without forgetting, the film also chose to have Marsha P. Johnson play by a male actor cis And did not include non-white legendary activists who have been essential in queer rights, notably Sylvia Rivera, Stormé Delarverie and Miss Major Griffen-Gracy. It is particularly obvious when many people from Stonewall are still alive.
Better movies to watch during the month of pride
Recommend better films to watch during the month of pride will be differs by taste, and the landscape of queer cinema is as large and diverse as the people who make up the LGBTQIA +community. There could be individual lists for each existing LGBTQ sub-genre, but given the historical context of “Stonewall”, it seems appropriate to recommend political, radical and monumental films.
In the world of documentaries, the “Paris is burning” (which concerns the scene of the ballroom underground of New York) should be a compulsory vision with “We was here” of 2011, which concerns the crisis of HIV / AIDS in San Francisco. There is also “The Queen” of 1968, which was considered lost for decades but which received a restoration just a few years ago. The memorable speech of Crystal Labeija in the film was even sampled in the song “Ambience 001” on the album of Frank Ocean “Endless”. Then there is “Screaming Queens”, a 2005 documentary on the Count Cafeteria Riot (where trans women retaliated against the police three years before the events of Stonewall), and “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson”, a 2017 documentary on one of the most pivot votes involved in Stonewall.
As for the narrative characteristics, the suggestions are really countless. Like a small sample, I personally recommend “Young Soul Rebels”, “The Boys in the Band”, “The Watermelon Woman”, “serving in front”, “Go Fish”, “Night”, “1978,” Jamie Babbit, but I am a film that I recommend to watch for “Jamie Babbit “Emlia. Pérez.” Whatever your taste, I can guarantee that they all have a higher rotten tomato score than “Stonewall”.
