TRANSGENDER THEMES INCREASE ON THE SCREEN
Last year’s Stonewall, though interpreted as a major turning point in the gay rights movement, actually involved a riot by transgendered males dressed as females. This year, two films examine the phenomenon from very different perspectives.
Viva, directed by Patty Breathnach, takes place in La Habana, Cuba. The protagonist is 18-year-old Jesús (played by Héctor Medina). Jesús has lived alone in the apartment for several years since his mother’s death. He has not seen his father, who was imprisoned for murder when he was 3. To survive, he is a hairdresser for women in their place of residence or work, fixes wigs for transgendered night club performers, and sells his body. One day he realizes that he will fulfill his destiny by dressing up as a women and performing at the night club. He then takes Viva as his stage name. However, his father Ángel (Jorge Perugorría) is released from prison, discovers him singing at the nightclub, punches him, and moves back into the apartment again. Father and son now need to establish an understanding. After Ángel asserts some machismo without success, he reveals that he was released from prison with terminal lung cancer. Jesús now becomes his father’s caretaker, and Ángel accepts his son’s lifestyle in the process. The film not only provides an image of the transgendered scene in Cuba but also a panorama of life in the rundown capital of the country. MH
Sworn Virgin (Vergine giurata), directed by Laura Bispuri, offers a very unusual story. Two sisters, Lila (played by Dajana Selimaj) and adopted Hana (Alba Rohrwacher), are growing up in mountainous Albania. Their mother has died, so their father (Bruno Shllaku) is without a son to help with the arduous task of goat herding. Hana, however, seems attracted to outdoor labor, so her father teaches her how to use a rifle as if she were a boy. Lila, meanwhile, has a boyfriend and flees to Milan to raise a family. That leaves Hana, who is officially renamed “Mark” during a ceremony attended by village elders in which a lock of feminine hair is cut by the father. (To show that the practice is not uncommon, an older transgendered person named Pal is identified as a “sworn virgin” in the nearby town square one day.) But the father eventually dies, and Mark sets out for Milan. On arrival, Mark knocks on the door of Lila (now played by Flolnja Kodheli) without advance warning. They had not seen each other for 14 years. Lila’s husband agrees to let Mark stay, though their daughter Jonida (Emily Ferratello), who must sleep on the living room couch, is annoyed by someone whose sexual identity is uncertain. Mark then seeks to adjust not only to life in Milan but also to make a decision about sexuality. Much of the film focuses on Mark’s observations at Jonida’s swimming pool competition, including Mark’s visit to the male locker room, where Bernhard (Lars Eldinger), the pool manager, seeks to have sex with Mark, who knows nothing about the subject. Along the way, filmviewers learn that in order to survive as a male, Mark must wear an upper body corset. But beautiful breasts pop out when the corset is removed, and the transformation back to Hana is played out slowly in the film with multiple flashbacks. Eventually, Bernhard gets an apartment for Mark so that the family can get back to normal, while Mark does the same in coming to terms with being Hana again. MH