Just out., May 15, 1998, Page 31, Image 31

CIMEMÄ
ÜMK $ W & STW.
........................... ▼...........................
T he H uman R ace
Directed by Bobby Houston
7:30 p.m. May 16, 7 p.m. May 22
R achel ’ s D aughters : S earching for the
C auses of B reast C ancer
Directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf
7 p.m. May 17, 8 p.m. May 23
one are the days of epic journeys and fight­
ing mythological beasts.
G
But are they? Bobby Houston’s The
Human Race serves well as a modem saga or a
legend in the making. Race pits man against
nature, in this case the sea. This theme is sym­
bolically important as the nexus of birth-death-
rebirth in the hero myths of many cultures and
an apt stage to illustrate an external battle
reflected within the souls of heroes.
One hesitates to equate HIV with a mytho­
logical beast, which might seem to dehumanize
the HIV-positive men who are the subjects of
this documentary, but it is something that each
of them, the healthy and not so healthy alike,
are fighting. And it does have a mysterious,
intangible and yet wholly physical quality that
lends itself to such a metaphor. In this epic, it
spans the physical and spiritual realms, adding
another layer to the man-against-nature theme
while highlighting the inner strength of each
of these men.
The Human Race follows 11 men with
HIV/AIDS who in 1997 competed in the
trans-Pacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to
Hawaii. There are some poignant moments—
like the discussion before the race of the
“Angels on the Hull,” inscriptions on the boat
of 150 names of people who died as a result of
AIDS—but on the surface it’s the story of get­
ting a really big boat to go really far, really fast.
The fact that all of this boat’s crew are HIV­
positive has more significance for the viewer
than for the crew members themselves. Yes,
they did become involved in the race and the
documentary film in order to show a powerful
example of surviving and living vigorously with
HIV, but once the race is under way that seems
secondary—which is the point. This film shows
that, as difficult as it can be live with HIV, life
isn’t over at diagnosis and life after seroconver­
sion isn’t consumed by the business of being ill.
Despite some rough weather, a few narrowly
averted disasters and the personal conflicts that
are inevitable when too many people crowd
into too little space, this is a heroic journey
that everyone survives. During the course of
the voyage, the crew is transformed from a
group of courageous, possibly crazed adventure
seekers into a symbol of human strength in
adversity. The viewer is taken along, through
hell and back in a sense, to a place where char­
acter and commitment can overshadow gloomy
thoughts of disease and tragedy.
The Human Race has all the elements of a
mythic journey, but it also has the power of
truth. It is an inspirational film that, in a utopi­
an future without AIDS, could be recounted as
a legend from a time long ago, when men did
battle with the elements and struggled with
their own humanity. Houston has created an
invaluable historical document.
O
Reviews of selected works from
the Northwest Film Center’s innovative series,
The Body’s Politics, new films on image and identity
C hristopher D. C uttone
tity. But transsexualism isn’t just about surgery
it is impossible to completely exorcise the
(in fact, not every transsexual undergoes geni­
directorial and editorial slant, but the absence
tal reconstruction), leaving Dick to question
of narration is an effective way to minimize—
the psychological ramifications of body parts.
or camouflage?—those effects.
On the other hand, in the quest to make
There is no concise way to summarize trans­
their bodies conform to what they feel inside,
sexualism. Gender identity disorder, the diag­
the transsexuals Cram and Schermerhorn
nosis for transsexualism according to the
interview tend to be rather attached to gender
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
stereotypes.
One could argue that they’ve done
Disorders, 4th edition, of the American
a thorough job of conforming to traditional
Psychiatric Association, is a long way from
gender roles—albeit not the one they were
being completely explained. Research contin­
assigned at birth.
ues into the physiological causes of GID but,
As long as the transsexuals exist as the
needless to say, transsexualism has yet to be
“other” and, for most people, exist only in the­
embraced by our cuiture. Thankfully, You Don’t
ory, it is possible to think about gender identity
Know Dick is a step in the right direction.
disorder as a difficult riddle. You Don’t Know
Actually, it seems to proceed in the oppo­
You D on ’ t K now D ick : C ourageous
Dick humanizes the subject and prevents the
site direction by presenting a multiplicity of
H earts of T ranssexual M en
viewer from approaching it as a brain teaser,
views and experiences of transsexual men, but
Directed by Bestor Cram and
but it doesn’t conceal the thought-provoking
letting these men represent themselves as per­
Candace Schermerhorn
qualities of the stories it presents.
sonalities that couldn’t be popped out of the
5 p.m. May 17
Deconstructive analysis aside, and despite
same cookie cutter is essential to debunking
the many differences among the individuals
myths and eradicating stereotypes. Audiences
ranssexualism is a difficult subject. It poses a
featured in this documentary, one thing really
are forced to look at these men individually as
lot of questions without supplying many
stands out as the message of this film:
people, not en masse as an issue to be held at
answers. It requires acceptance of a certain
Regardless of what they may or may not have
arm’s length.
amount of ambivalence, ambiguity and paradox. While certainly some of us cling to the
between their legs, it is difficult to deny that
As such, directors Bestor Cram and
these people are men. Drag queens are obvious­
security of our genitals more than others, every
Candace Schermerhorn wisely chose to
ly not women, and transvestites aren’t totally
last one of us has some investment in so-called
approach the film as observers rather than
convincing either. Transsexualism isn’t about
traditional gender roles. Even gay men and les­
commentators. There is no narrator leading the bians, who seem to be so radical in creating
passing oneself off as the opposite gender. It’s a
viewer through the labyrinth of confusing and
matter of being the opposite so completely that
new relationship paradigms, rely on their geni­
conflicting ideas. The transsexual men in this
it no longer is the opposite, it is the truth.
talia to signify a large part of their sexual iden­
documentary speak for themselves. Of course,
T
uch! This is a fantastic documentary, but
there isn’t much to feel good about. So
many documentary films present tragic—
yet uplifting—situations in which the subjects
somehow overcome seemingly insurmountable
obstacles. This one, however, does not.
Rachel’s Daughters documents plenty of
seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but there
is no ultimate victory. Rachel’s Daughters is a
wake up call about a particular set of obstacles
of concern to everyone.
Why is cancer a feminist issue? Because the
same body parts most often affected in
women—breasts, ovaries, uteri—are the same
body parts that are fetishized, despised and
loaded with cultural iconography. And because
women are statistically poorer than men and
less likely to be insured, they are therefore
more likely to receive substandard treatment
from our for-profit medical establishment.
After giving the cancer this political con­
text, filmmakers Allie Light and Irving Saraf
take their audience on a search for some possi­
ble causes of cancer. Alarmingly, they find
them everywhere—in the air we breathe, satu­
rating the soil, lurking in our genetic inheri­
tance, seeping out of microwave ovens....
Despite the number of scientific views present­
ed in this film and the soaring rates of cancer
in a wide variety of populations, it seems that
no one is really talking about finding causes,
only cures.
Rachel’s Daughters frames the war against
cancer in a context not commonly applied:
The frantic search for a cure and the drastic
measures taken to treat cancer have distracted
us from acknowledging that our planet is being
poisoned and that it’s killing our bodies.
Genetic risk factors for breast cancer get a
lot of media coverage, but the three-fold
increase in the occurrence of the disease during
the last 50 years cannot be explained by genes.
Suspected cancer-causing agents are terrifyingly
ubiquitous—plastics, detergents, spermicides,
pesticides, electromagnetic radiation.
Nevertheless, Light and Saraf insist through
their film, the government and industrial sector
have largely decided not to investigate possible
causes of cancer.
Disturbingly simple themes presented in
Rachel’s Daughters are that science is supposed
to be objective while the grant-based research
system is inevitably political and capitalist; the
corporate system would rather pay for mammo­
grams and chemotherapy than stop polluting;
industries have no motive to hunt for carcino­
gens in the chemicals they employ. The burden
of proof, therefore, has fallen upon those who
have no choice but to be concerned—those
with cancer.
Whether one is living with it or dying from
it, cancer is so physically and emotionally tax­
ing. The depth of suffering among the women
with cancer in this film is astounding. They are
all very strong, as evidenced by their participa­
tion in the film, but they are clearly struggling.
One woman, whose cancer has been in remis­
sion for five years, tells the others, "I’m a statis­
tical cure, but I don’t feel cured.”
Rachel’s Daughters is a powerful film that
doesn’t hold anything back. For women with
breast cancer, for anyone with any kind of can­
cer, for everyone who lives in this modem era
of ruthless technology without foresight or
insight, there is too much at stake. This is a
documentary that should change the world.
by
■ For a complete schedule of T he B ody ’ s
POLITICS, call the Film Center at 221-1156.