The Brandon Teena Story
2/4
To be fair to the documentary by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir, it came before the searing "Boys Don't Cry," the narrative version of the same story. In all honesty though, I don't think I would have given "The Brandon Teena Story" a much higher rating if I hadn't seen Kimberly Pierce's film first. This documentary is as bland as its title.
On December 31, 1993, Brandon Teena (official name Teena Brandon) was brutally murdered along with her friend Lisa Lambert and Philip Devine, a week after she was raped by her killers, John Lotter and Tom Nissen. What reason was there for this senseless crime? Brandon had passed herself off as a male when she was in fact a female.
This documentary is little more than a series of clips explaining who Brandon was and what happened to him. It's a by the numbers construction, and while I don't doubt that the filmmakers had passion and reverence for their subject, it's not a good telling of the story. There's no style evident, although they do have short clips of a bar and some location shots.
By nature, it offers some insight into life in Falls City, Nebraska, but it's perfunctory. That's what's missing in this documentary. What kind of culture is it that breeds this kind of hatred? We know who Hilary Swank (as Brandon), Chloe Sevigny (as Brandon's girlfriend, Lana Turner), Peter Sarsgaard as (John Lotter) and Brandon Sexton III (as Tom Nissen) portrayed them as in Kimberly Pierce's film, but who were they really? The film lacks any psychological insight into who these people are, which limits the power of the story.
One thing that it does do is give recorded interviews between Sheriff Charles Laux (who doesn't give an on-camera interview). This was touched upon in the film, but here hatred has another face. Laux is the officer who questions Brandon about his rape. He takes an almost sleazy interest in his being a transman, treating him like some sideshow freak. He also declined to arrest Nissen and Lotter, despite the evidence (a rape kit was performed and came back with positive identification that the two had raped him), which inadvertently led to the triple homicide.
The thing I did like is that it shows how opinions can change when you know someone. Before, and initially after, they knew Brandon was biologically female, they were outraged and offended by the existence of a transsexual and the deception. But once they knew him, they cared about him and wanted to see justice for him (although it clearly doesn't go as far as one would like because many interviewed still refer to Brandon as "Teena" or "she," or in some cases, "it"). Studies have shown that most people who know a gay person are in support of gay rights. It appears that all it takes is the human connection. There is a young man interviewed who thinks the whole trial, in his words, is "bullshit" because if God wanted gay people, he would have created all men. One wonders what he might think if he actually knew Brandon.
To be fair to the documentary by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir, it came before the searing "Boys Don't Cry," the narrative version of the same story. In all honesty though, I don't think I would have given "The Brandon Teena Story" a much higher rating if I hadn't seen Kimberly Pierce's film first. This documentary is as bland as its title.
On December 31, 1993, Brandon Teena (official name Teena Brandon) was brutally murdered along with her friend Lisa Lambert and Philip Devine, a week after she was raped by her killers, John Lotter and Tom Nissen. What reason was there for this senseless crime? Brandon had passed herself off as a male when she was in fact a female.
This documentary is little more than a series of clips explaining who Brandon was and what happened to him. It's a by the numbers construction, and while I don't doubt that the filmmakers had passion and reverence for their subject, it's not a good telling of the story. There's no style evident, although they do have short clips of a bar and some location shots.
By nature, it offers some insight into life in Falls City, Nebraska, but it's perfunctory. That's what's missing in this documentary. What kind of culture is it that breeds this kind of hatred? We know who Hilary Swank (as Brandon), Chloe Sevigny (as Brandon's girlfriend, Lana Turner), Peter Sarsgaard as (John Lotter) and Brandon Sexton III (as Tom Nissen) portrayed them as in Kimberly Pierce's film, but who were they really? The film lacks any psychological insight into who these people are, which limits the power of the story.
One thing that it does do is give recorded interviews between Sheriff Charles Laux (who doesn't give an on-camera interview). This was touched upon in the film, but here hatred has another face. Laux is the officer who questions Brandon about his rape. He takes an almost sleazy interest in his being a transman, treating him like some sideshow freak. He also declined to arrest Nissen and Lotter, despite the evidence (a rape kit was performed and came back with positive identification that the two had raped him), which inadvertently led to the triple homicide.
The thing I did like is that it shows how opinions can change when you know someone. Before, and initially after, they knew Brandon was biologically female, they were outraged and offended by the existence of a transsexual and the deception. But once they knew him, they cared about him and wanted to see justice for him (although it clearly doesn't go as far as one would like because many interviewed still refer to Brandon as "Teena" or "she," or in some cases, "it"). Studies have shown that most people who know a gay person are in support of gay rights. It appears that all it takes is the human connection. There is a young man interviewed who thinks the whole trial, in his words, is "bullshit" because if God wanted gay people, he would have created all men. One wonders what he might think if he actually knew Brandon.
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