Atrás da Estante

This is a very interesting documentary of the life of a straight Jewish couple. Seeking income of any sort, they start distributing Hustler magazine, then take over a bookstore whose owner has been delinquent in payments. It turns out that the bookstore's main business is gay porn, and they manage to make a success of a business they don't fully understand. Their good reputation in the porn community lead to their producing gay porn movies, including ones by superstar Jeff Stryker. Along the way, they have to deal with people disappearing in the AIDS era, a porn prosecution under the Regan administration, keeping a blind eye to what was happening in their "back room", and keeping their 3 children from learning what the "bookstore" really sells.

The last part becomes ironic, when 1 of their sons had to come out as gay, which did bother his religious mother. Meanwhile, this movie was a project of their daughter, who managed to get intimate confessions that would not be possible with a stranger

Having grown up in the late 1970s and the era of the early years of this family's journey with The Circus of Books store, this film played with my heart the entire time. From with flashbacks to bygone times, through heartwarming reality and crises, clearly perseverance and love abound in each of their lives' chapters.

We are so use to judging people that its absolutely normal to condemn anybody who is not doing things in our way. I am a straight man but I do really respect gay guys for standing for what really like to do. The couple in this documentary is a nice sample of good people, minding their own busines, running a small business and in the mean time not judging others for their sexual orientation.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this program.

Understanding how the family got involved in the business, footage from when the parents met and through their family's growth made for very emotive viewing.

This film is a collection of acceptance, family, faith, education, freedom, resilience, respect and equal rights.