Boy Erased

The American South. Weird place. Loves guns. Very squeamish about sexuality. Terrified if that sexuality doesn't conform to the norm. Can't deal with square pegs. They either have to be molded to fit into round holes or it's outcastville, population you. I've no idea why I threw a random Simpsons nod in there. Sorry. Boy Erased is set in the American South. It's a film that would put you off ever going there, whatever your orientation.

Jared Eamons is the son of a preacherman. He's also gay. Something his father Marshall is in total denial about. Homosexuality does not fly in these parts and so Jared is shipped off to a re-education camp called Love In Action after a very traumatic outing. A place where he will learn to ignore his so called devilish impulses and become a functioning child of god once again. Love In Action is run by therapist called Victor Sykes, a man who informs them that their sexuality is a choice. His methods for converting the camp members are questionable to say the very least. 

This was frightening stuff, almost surreal in places. If you hadn't heard it it before you'd assume it was set in some kind of alternate reality. In fact take away the modern touches like cars and phones and you wouldn't be blamed for assuming it was set in the 1950's. Building a terrifying story like this around a likable lead makes this an affecting watch. Lucas Hedges who plays Jared has become the poster boy for these kind of adult dramas in the last few years. This, Lady Bird, Manchester By The Sea and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. He's made his mark in all of them as a supporting cast member and now he's showing what he can really do. Joel Edgerton who also wrote and directed this plays Sykes. He's a monster with a friendly smile. A man with his own issues who's happy to lash out psychological torture on young men barely old enough to shave. Between this and his directorial debut The Gift he's showing a fine flair for stories about the darker sides of the human experience

It's very much an Oscar bait movie though. Especially when it comes to Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, both of whom play his parents. Crowe plays Marshall in a low key way but he's acting his heart out and so his Marshall comes off fierce stagy and stilted beside the more natural Hedges and the warmth of Kidman. She's reached the mammy stage of her career what with Big Little Lies and playing two maternal film roles in the space of a couple of months, Aquaman being the other. Like Marshall, her Nancy is a worried parent but her fear comes less from hate than from a fear of the unknown and her motherly instinct to protect her son. She does well in the part coming off far more believable than Crowe.

Over here we may mock and scoff with disbelief that this kind of thing still happens in the States but look at the likes of the Iona institute and the other sinister fringe groups that popped up around the marriage and repeal referendums. There's plenty of Irish people that think like Victor Sykes did. Because of the current political climate leaning right it's vital that films like this and The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (a similar story released in 2018) are made and seen by a wide audience. People need to realise that this kind of cod therapy has no place in the modern world. The film also shows in brutal moments the damage that repression can do to a person's head. A midnight meeting going horrifically bad. A lurking counsellor (played by Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, terrifying). A bible being used as a weapon. Small moments that will stay with you well after the film is over. Secret's aren't good. Keeping them will cause you to lash out at others. Physically and mentally. They are a cancer.

This is well worth a watch. It's not fun, it's not light or bubbly but it's important. 

BTW, make sure you stay for the postscript notes at the end.