Screened in the schools programming schedule on daytime television, I was drawn to this film by the title and the subject matter. I also was attracted by the presence of Stephen K Amos who compered at the Comedy Club one night I was there and simply blew away all the acts that were on. I didn't know he was gay as he didn't make it an issue at all during his show but I was interested in what he was looking at. See, despite the fuss that even a suggestion of racism will raise, it is actually the accepted norm that homophobia is rife within the black community. Whether it is the music or cultural issues, for some reason being black and gay is not something that is accepted.
We learn this quite quickly from the various youth that Amos interviews all of whom are quite clear on their view on homosexuality quite often in ways that have been bleeped out for the audience. The moment when he does his "coming out" comedy routine to an all black audience is priceless the laughter stops dead and you can see that he has lost them from then on. Amos goes to Jamaica (where homosexuality is illegal and homophobic attacks are regular and generally ignored by authority) and finds that things are even worse there.
The film is fascinating in how it deals with the subject and explores the depth of it. At times it does betray its target audience (schools) by being a bit simplistic (eg the line up just to make the point that gay people don't "look" a certain way) but for the majority of the time it still manages to be interesting and surprisingly shocking. Living in the UK, people generally do not display strong feelings of hatred towards groups, even if they feel it, maybe because of just being PC but mainly because we are generally tolerant of others. So to hear some of the views put forward here genuinely shocked me. Of course on one level this was to be expected from groups of young black men and women but to hear it from religious leaders and adults was a surprise.
The film does make a total coup by getting a few minutes with reggae artist Elephant Man. A few years ago the group Outrage protested outside the Brits over the homophobia lyrics in some of the nominated artists (including Elephant Man), gigs were cancelled and people were shocked to the point that many artists released statements playing it down, saying they aren't homophobia and generally committing not to do it in the future. However here Amos chats to Elephant Man who simply admits that he doesn't care about homosexuality anymore and then proceeds to describe how it isn't worth him losing money over cancelled gigs and you realise this is not a man who has changed his opinion just someone who has been well advised as a businessman and earner. It is a depressing but telling moment in the film. Likewise contributions from gay black men on their experiences are well done and depressing. I suppose the issues are the same as was once the case with homosexuality generally (and still is to a degree I suppose) but it is shocking that the black community seems to be stuck forty years behind the rest of British society.
Amos presents the film well, stating his outrage and anger but never even getting close to being a rant or unbalancing the film. At one point he is accused of making a film to promote black homosexuality and he rightly defends himself because this is not what the film does. Instead it puts the issues in the open, exposes the attitudes, questions them and looks at the problems faced by gay black people as a result. It is a bit "school's programming" at times but mostly it is a challenging and pretty depressing film that should be forced onto the television of black community leaders within the UK.
We learn this quite quickly from the various youth that Amos interviews all of whom are quite clear on their view on homosexuality quite often in ways that have been bleeped out for the audience. The moment when he does his "coming out" comedy routine to an all black audience is priceless the laughter stops dead and you can see that he has lost them from then on. Amos goes to Jamaica (where homosexuality is illegal and homophobic attacks are regular and generally ignored by authority) and finds that things are even worse there.
The film is fascinating in how it deals with the subject and explores the depth of it. At times it does betray its target audience (schools) by being a bit simplistic (eg the line up just to make the point that gay people don't "look" a certain way) but for the majority of the time it still manages to be interesting and surprisingly shocking. Living in the UK, people generally do not display strong feelings of hatred towards groups, even if they feel it, maybe because of just being PC but mainly because we are generally tolerant of others. So to hear some of the views put forward here genuinely shocked me. Of course on one level this was to be expected from groups of young black men and women but to hear it from religious leaders and adults was a surprise.
The film does make a total coup by getting a few minutes with reggae artist Elephant Man. A few years ago the group Outrage protested outside the Brits over the homophobia lyrics in some of the nominated artists (including Elephant Man), gigs were cancelled and people were shocked to the point that many artists released statements playing it down, saying they aren't homophobia and generally committing not to do it in the future. However here Amos chats to Elephant Man who simply admits that he doesn't care about homosexuality anymore and then proceeds to describe how it isn't worth him losing money over cancelled gigs and you realise this is not a man who has changed his opinion just someone who has been well advised as a businessman and earner. It is a depressing but telling moment in the film. Likewise contributions from gay black men on their experiences are well done and depressing. I suppose the issues are the same as was once the case with homosexuality generally (and still is to a degree I suppose) but it is shocking that the black community seems to be stuck forty years behind the rest of British society.
Amos presents the film well, stating his outrage and anger but never even getting close to being a rant or unbalancing the film. At one point he is accused of making a film to promote black homosexuality and he rightly defends himself because this is not what the film does. Instead it puts the issues in the open, exposes the attitudes, questions them and looks at the problems faced by gay black people as a result. It is a bit "school's programming" at times but mostly it is a challenging and pretty depressing film that should be forced onto the television of black community leaders within the UK.
