Soldier's Girl

First off congrats to the wonderful Troy Garity and to Lee pace ( Especially Lee Pace) for really doing a film where both of these actors will be noticed for more film roles in the future and I was very glad to see at this years Emmy Awards that they weren't forgotten at least as nominees though Lee Pace definatley deserved an award for playing a throughly convincing transsexual. Also kudos to Shawn Hatosy for playing a very sexually repressed moron who if he'd have just accepted his own blossoming homosexual feelings the real Mr Winchell would still be here today. I apperciate this movie on so many levels from it showing how this nations military policy of " Don't ask Don't tell" is absolute BS, to how society at large and including our own president feels about the love bewteen 2 people of the same sex. And it shows just how judgemental society is tworads especially the transgendered society in todays world. The ending as shocking as it it is is just as brutal as the story of the late Teena Brandon as her story was depicted in the equally great film Boy's Don't Cry. If you have Showtime watch this film when they replay it or go to your local video store and rent the VHS or DVD of this phenominal film. Redencks and Homophobes steer clean of thsi movie. I wouldn't want you to get your jollies off watching a kind and sincere person die for loving someone who was just as kind but confused about their sexuality. ***** out of *****

This is a film that will challenge your definition of gender and redefine the meaning of love. The true life story of Calpernia Addams and her successful yet tragic relationship with the soldier who fell in love with her, Barry Winchell. First , this is one of the best films I have ever seen. Originally made for HBO it could easily have made the big screen. Frank Pierson directs with a gentle hand and delivers poetry to vehicle that could have been awkward in anothers hands. Ron Nyswaner's script is sharp and deep so Pierson is well backed.

The cast is killer . Troy Garity delivers a surprisingly subtle portrayal of the soldier Barry Winchell. Barry is not an intellectual but far more emotionally intelligent than those around him. He falls in love with an exotic transsexual dancer Calpernia Addams for all the reasons a man usually does for any woman. She is smart , beautiful and underneath the dancers facade a true woman who yearns for someone to care for.

Lee Pace who plays Calpernia faced a huge challenge in that he really is a man but he is so powerful an actor that it takes only moments to convince you the heart of this character is truly a woman's. A classically trained actor Pace finds a way to give Calpernia both the accurate movement of a woman yet the fragile heart of a romantic in danger . I hope that Paces future is not stunted by this role because after delivering this kind of performance it will be really hard to top it. Pace manifests Calpernia so well it defies his physical reality . That feat is beyond most Hollywood actors period.

Added to the mix is the macho soldier named Justin Fisher who befriends Barry only to become the cause of his demise. . A hardcore soldier who drugs himself to keep up with the demands of being the best of the best Fisher is himself both a homophobe , jealous competitor for Barry's attention and dangerously loose cannon . Played by Shawn Hatosy the performance is pretty stunning. I swear I have known guys like this in my life. Shawn delivers Fisher with incredible rawness and realism. A macho redneck with disturbing secrets. You will hate Fisher and yet pity how pathetic he is as a human being he is . Brilliant work. Very rare. Hatosy gives a perfect delivery.

Last is the new arrival Calvin Glover , a wet behind the ears soldier that Fisher easily dupes into carrying out his vengeance against Barry. Played by Philip Eddolls the team of Fisher and Glover fits perfectly . Fisher the power to dominate and Glover his easily manipulated puppet. Too stupid to even grasp the seriousness of his crime Glover is someone you will recognize . Eddolls doesn't hold back anything in trying to give us Glovers small man complex.

If you are homophobic at all you will probably not like this movie but if you believe that love transcends the physical genders we are given you will be moved. Despite finding this DVD in the "gay " section of Amazon.com this is truly love story between a man and a woman. Well worth watching. A+

Overall well worth watching. It does have the standard host of Army reality errors -- calling NCOs sir, wearing hats indoors when not bearing weapons, calling a Sergeant Major "sarge," etc. Curiously, having extremely defective people (like the nut with the bat) in the Army, especially combat arms, is NOT an error. When I was a tanker in the late 80s, I saw America's finest, most giving, young men. I also saw a lot of mutants that wouldn't make it on the outside. At that time 90%+ of both types were rabidly homophobic. I doubt much has changed. Because of that, I find it a bit difficult to buy that the main character wouldn't hide his affair much better than the movie depicted. Then again, things did go terribly wrong. Even though I'm a strong supporter of the military, when "don't ask, don't tell" was created, I thought that a gay person must be insane to want to go into the service. Clearly, little has changed.

I loved the film and I'm still remembering various scenes from it. As a victim of a gay hate bashing many years ago when I was 22 which almost killed me, it affected me deeply.

The military code of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is stupid. As was the segregation of blacks and whites in the military until around 1943. As was the forbidding of interracial marriages in this country in a number of states until 1967. As was the internment of Asian American citizens during World War II. As is the antipathy against civil marriage for same-sex couples now. Where is "love" in all this? Why is it not even being mentioned? Love for one's country and for each other. Barry and Calpernia loved each other. What's wrong with that? When two people love each other and decide to share their lives together, that's a commitment between two people. Not a commitment with the government or any religion. They can only acknowledge the commitment in the way each does. Love doesn't recognize restrictions; it's universal.

Bigotry kills. This movie demonstrates that. Also, back to reality, I've read the commander (or whatever they're called) of Fort Campbell who never said a word about the anti-gay attitude of Fort Campbell at this time was recently promoted. Now what does that say about our government and the military?

I gave the movie a 10. I only wish I could give more people the same score.

In 1999, the soldier Barry Winchell (Troy Garity) joins the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army in Kentucky and shares a room with Justin Fisher (Shawn Hatosy) in the barrack. Fisher brings Winchell to the Visions Club, in Nashville, considered club of deviants by his superiors, and Winchell befriends the travesty Calpernia Addams (Lee Pace) that performs in the club. Soon they start seeing each other and fall in love with each other.

When Sergeant Carlos Diaz (Andre Braugher) nominates Winchell as the Soldier of the Month, the jealous Fisher spreads rumors on the base telling that Winchell is a fag. Further, he manipulates the homophobic new comer Calvin Glover (Philip Eddolls) against Winchell. On July, Fourth, the coward Glover has a violent outburst against Winchell while he is sleeping with tragic consequences.

"Soldier's Girl" is a heartbreaking story of love, intolerance, cruelty, manipulation and cowardliness based on the true story of the soldier Barry Winchell. The movie is impressively well made for a television movie, with a perfect direction of Frank Pierson.

However the performances are the best in this movie, highlighting the acting of Lee Pace with an outstanding performance. My vote is seven.

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