Outrage

I walked into this film with quite a bit of ambivalence on "outting" anyone regarding their sexual orientation. True, it would be nice to live in a world where that isn't or shouldn't be an issue.

The phenomenon of "interalized self-hatred" is something I was introduced to in the early 1990's. It may not be the reason someone--in particular a closeted homosexual--takes a position on a particular political issue, yet this film lines up a number of politicians and people who work in Washington's legislative community and lays out quite convincingly the argument that bigotry indeed is at work in our Nation's capitol, and the suppression of a group of people's rights is achieved through collusion with people who cannot or will not be honest with themselves or the people they represent.

Does exposing these individuals accomplish anything other than the satisfaction of calling a spade a spade? This film makes the case that, yes, in more than a few cases it is worthwhile.

A superb example of the art of film-making, together with passionate testimony from people on one side of a fence that often aren't covered in the mainstream press, this is one of the better documentaries of the decade. I was a convert by the time I walked out of this film.

Kirby Dick's attitude to material that's a 'no-no' is to say "yes-yes!" His previous film, a near masterpiece chronicling the hypocrisy of the MPAA on American film censorship since the inception of the NC-17 rating, served as an indictment while also having some fun. While a sense of fun only springs up on occasion in Outrage he still gets right what needs to be shown: an in-depth look at the rampant hypocrisy of government's 'in-the-closet' stance. Gay politicians rarely come out of said closet - in the film we see two such promininent figures interviewed at length, NJ governor Jim McGreevey and Massachusetts rep Barney Frank - and Dick's aim with the documentary is to seek out the hows and whys. It's poignant when it needs to be, but above all else it serves up information we as the public should know about figures. It's a truth-to-power assemblage on public figures who, time and time again, have voted against gay and AIDS rights (it may not surprise some to know it's Republicans who are the ones most in the closet-side) while denying what people can see outright.

Dick frames his doc on two key figures, one being Larry Craig, the disgraced congressman who was caught in a bathroom doing something that, perhaps, was equatable to what he described Bill Clinton as doing in the mid 90s. He propositioned a cop for 'something' and fervently denied it in public, despite allegations that there had been other incidents in the past suggesting more than likely that he was and has been in the closet. It's been one of the great follies of the past couple of years, and opened up the discussion that appears in the film (Craig, it should be added, has something like a 16% voting record on gay rights through his career).

The other figure, not with as much national notoriety as Craig, is Florida governor Charlie Crist, a "bachelor" who had married once and quickly divorced in the 70s and remained a single man for as long as anyone could tell - not to mention having a chief aid allegedly going with him around the world on vacations (the trick being that one would go the day before and the other the day after - every vacation for *decades*), and denied up and down being possibly, at all, gay. Despite all matters on the contrary, Crist denies it (after going through a girlfriend and another wife during and after the election), and continues to put fervent anti-gay judges on the state court.

Dick isn't out to "out" anyone of the closet - at least, anyone that would rather be kept private. But these are public figures, and the aim is that of This Film is Not Yet Rated: open up the lid, look inside, and see what makes this subject tick to hell. And with Washington and US politics and media, there's so much to mine and Dick and his team do a very good job. Hell, we even get Ed Koch! Who knew?

Outrage is aptly titled. Very aptly. It is an indictment of closeted politicians who lobby for anti-gay legislation in the U.S. They are dishonorable people who do dishonorable things out of weakness. If one were to tell me they thought this film was too judgmental of its subjects, I would disagree on the grounds that it remains objective to its found footage and interviewees, but I still might understand the opinion. The film is designed to outrage us by showing us the grave, sad and cyclical injustice that is being done to the gay community right this minute. But it should, because it is a view of the subject that is sadly muted in day-to-day consciousness.

The reason we have generally successful politicians in a technologically developed melting pot like, apparently, the United States such as Sen. Larry Craig, Gov. Charlie Crist, Rep. David Dreier and Ed Koch is because people have family and friends whose rights as a person they vote against because they think Charlie Crist is just the most charming guy, or Larry Craig wants to do something as abstract and arguable as protecting our family values. The year is 2009 in a superpower country that claims to the rest of the world to be free and ideal. Is there any significant reason to be nice about it anymore? Kirby Dick went to great lengths to be more honest than anyone else has ever been about the MPAA Ratings Board for his vital documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. Doing the same here is the sole key to his achieving a state of pure rage and disheartenment at the vanity, the spinelessness, the disingenuousness required to be embraced as a candidate in the Republican Party in this day and age. Yes, even that one. Of course he seems honest and down-to-earth and brave. The subjects of this documentary appear the same to that very constituency.

In This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Dick actually began an official investigation into the lives of his subjects. Similarly here, he accompanies an investigator already working on uncovering the truth about the candidates who have fought to conform to an ideology in order to use a public office to seal the deal against those who share their pain and deal with it to more constructive ends. We see some of them, too. And they make a lot more sense when they talk, because they're Mass. Rep. Barney Frank, playwrights Larry Kramer and Tony Kushner, and columnist Michelangelo Signorile.

The film is exactly what your conservative family and friends need to see. I know about the unspoken peace treaty on talking politics, and you don't have to. Just recommend a documentary that just blew you away called Outrage and tell them to sit down because they've got to watch it. It beats the eggshell-ridden small talk about school and work and other people.

Here is a much better logistical argument.

1.The government is involved in marriage.

2.All adult citizens of the United States are guaranteed equal protection under law.

3.Therefore, the government has two choices.

A.Not be involved with marriage at all

-OR-

B.Treat all adult citizens equally

This whole debate is not complicated guys. So if you do not like the idea of gay marriage get used to it, because the authors of the constitution laid down the groundwork for this centuries ago.

p.s. as for your "slippery slope" theory about people one day marrying their pets, it should first be noted that a pet does not have a choice in the matter so it would not be able to be defined as marriage. The pet would not even know that it had been married. In other words, that part of your comments is laughable, and can be construed as very rude. Very similar to a comment like this, "I mean, why would anyone be religious, thats just left over tradition from cavemen." Don't be inconsiderate of others please.

The big question whether or not it serves the cause to out those closeted politicians. That is a question that is outside of this documentary.

The big question here is whether or not the makers of this film did a good job of covering the issue. Expectations were high on my part as Kirby Dick did the outstanding "This Film Is Not Yet Rated." I was captivated throughout by the stories and those who told of their experiences with the individuals covered. I really thought my own Charlie Crist would just have insinuations, but I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Florida will have her first gay Senator.

The fact shown that the Republican Party used the marriage issue to get votes was repugnant. But, these people will stop at nothing to gain and maintain power. They truly have no shame.

Outstanding.