StrangeFruit

Seattle Gay News - 10/22/04
by Nevin Jefferson

Strange Fruit

The taste of Strange Fruit is bitter and sweet with a very powerful jolt that moves through your body. This film packs a potent punch that quenches the thirst for a Black drama that's refreshing and true to light. The sour of the fruit is swallowed as the murder of a flamboyant Gay Black man takes place in the parking lot of a Gay bar on the Bayou in Louisiana. The horror of the attack is vividly shown in just enough graphic flashes to leave you pressed to the back of your seat. The town sheriff denies the grieving mother justice for the hate crime death of her son because, according to the sheriff, her son's death wasn't a murder, it was the result of "kinky" homosexual sex! He voices his disgust and homophobia to the mother when she stands up to him and demanding justice. (Yep, this is the Deep South, gang, where being Black and Gay get you doomed at the starting gate.)

The fruit is sweet for William Boyle, a prominent openly Gay man and New York attorney who's also a childhood friend of the victim. William is a workaholic which is why he can't commit to the man who he calls for sex when he's lonely. He gives his beautiful partner a taste of "strange fruit" with the promise of a "talk" over cocktails. His office assistant has the hots for him, but he's too busy with his work to notice. The agony of rejection is one that the audience related to with empathy being given to the love-sick assistant.

Upon learning of his friend's murder, William takes off for Louisiana, forgetting all about the problems facing him in his relationship. Once in Louisiana, William bites into the "strange fruit" as he faces his past and the personal demons awakened within him. He's faced with racism from outisde the Black Community being reminded that he's a Black man then homophobia from within that reminds him that he's a Gay man alienated from his own race.

The story unfolds as we witness from the eyes of William the struggles of a Black Gay male discriminated against from all sides. I felt that I was watching parts of my life as I identified with William Boyle who's accomplishments didn't matter to people. They saw him as Gay man and nothing else. His own mother refuses to see him at all, so the only person that he has is himself.

The victim's mother tells William that he's able to hide unlike her flamboyant son. Her son told her that he wasn't going to hide and be afraid of being who he was. William has no redeeming or revealing Gay qualities except that he announced in High School that he was Gay. His peers, town and family turned against him. The victim's brother refuses to go into a Gay bar with him, fearing that might "become Gay." The suspense intensifies as William gets caught in a complex web of circumstances and cover-ups that jeopardize his career and put his life in danger.

Strange Fruit is a very excellent film that tells both sides of the story in the life of a Black Gay male. It's a dramatic thriller that delivers a strong message while entertaining you in terrific movie style. I thank the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival for presenting a film that features a man of color that makes you more socially aware.