Follows the story of seventeen-year-old Christian, who in 1965 has fallen in love with his best friend, James.
Dear Friend (2011)
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by Arcadio Bolanos (Peru)
Christian and James are best friends and spend most of their time together. Unbeknownst to the other boy, Christian has deeply fallen in love for his friend. There are boundaries, however, that according to some unwritten norms should not be crossed. So even as Christian wants to go beyond the limits of friendship, he is aware of his friend’s obedience to the nom de pere, the name of the father, id est, the fatherly authority that has the final say. When Christian tells his friend “You don’t have to do everything your old man says” he expects James to, effectively, step out of the father’s commands.
But how can one subvert the mechanisms of power? There are rules and categorical imperatives out there, and somehow we must learn to survive without bequeathing upon ourselves our true nature. It’s 1965 and Christian knows that homosexuality is technically illegal in England. However he finds within himself enough courage to surpass the pre-established limits. As philosopher Alan Badiou would define it “Courage is the name of something which is not reducible either to law or desire. Courage is the name for subjectivity which is irreducible to the dialectics of law and desire in its proper form”. When the two boys arrive home a bit drunk and lay together on the same bed, Christian attempts to kiss James.
James reacts badly and Christian decides to sleep on the hallway, away from his friend. The next morning, the two boys have quite a heated argument about what happened. Christian assures his friend that his feelings must have been obvious “Like you didn’t know”, are his words. James, nevertheless, feels uneasy and insults his friend, calling him queer and sick. Christian’s father arrives just in time to see the boys arguing, and then James shouts “Your son is a poof”. The revelation of Christian’s homosexuality will come as a shock to the father, and of course, his reaction is as bad as one could possibly imagine.
Determined to abandon the house, Christian packs up and leaves. However, remorse and guilt had weighed greatly on James so he decides to return to his friend’s house. It is in that moment that the two of them coincide. After an initial outburst of violence, there is a final embrace between the two boys. They have reconciled with each other and, more importantly, they have reconciled with the truth.
With stunning visuals and clear story-telling, Sophie Boyce’s short film successfully turns a common dilemma into a more appealing material. Let’s not forget that in today’s world we seem to be eternally concerned with an ideology of happiness. The imperative is clear: Be happy and enjoy your life and so on. In artistic creation we often see the opposite of that kind of ideology in the obsession with suffering bodies, the difficulty of sexuality, and so on. Nonetheless, we need not be in that sort of obsession because the question of art is also the question of life and not always the question of death… And if something remains undisputable in the short film’s conclusion is that life is all that matters. This is, indeed, a reaffirmation of life.
Ovaj kratki film nam priča prilično čestu priču o zaljubljenosti nestasalog gaya u najboljeg druga. Kako mu to reći i da li mu to reči ako je on str8? Nema pravila, sami morate znati da li vaš najbolji prijatelj može to da podnese, Treba razlikovati zaljubljenost od povjerenja i sigurnosti u onoga kome bi tako nešto htjeli reči.
Film me je podsjetio na jedan događaj iz tinejdžerskih dana. Sa komšijom sam se tih dana mnogo družio. Uglavnom smo šetali kroz obližnju šumu blizu našeg naselja ili pored mora uz šetalište. Jednom smo došli kod nekog kamp naselja sa nekim napuštenim , polusrušenim drvenim kućicama i tu sjeli da se odmorimo. Ne znam ni sam kako započeli smo temu o drkanju i seksu. Ovaj drug bez nekog povoda spusti farmerice i pokaže kako mu se digao. Ja uradih isto i kao po komandi počnemo da ih drkamo. U sred drkanja njegova ruka poleti ka meni, poljubac i nakon desetominutnog vatanja i nešto kao orala svršimo. Nakon toga nastavismo dalje.
Poslije nekoliko dana mi opet odemo na isto mjesto. Ja ga pitam oćemo li da ponovimo, a on odgovori: “Pa nismo pederi, dosta nam je bilo ono onda što smo činjeli” Ko zna šta se tada dešavalo u zbunjenoj 16-godišnjoj glavi.
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