This is your typical indie coming-of-age tale about a teenager, though it’s clearly working with a very tiny budget. Set within a migrant family living in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, the movie digs into how fragile old-school traditions and expectations can be. We follow a teenage son as he goes through the process of coming out and struggles to find acceptance while dealing with homophobia, domestic abuse, and a messy love triangle that involves his own sister. Goyo is seventeen and just about to graduate from high school. Since he’s been a bit more feminine since he was a little kid, he’s always had to deal with emotional and physical transition from his dad, Ramon, who is obsessed with him being "a man." The only real love he gets is from a lady next door who actually respects him for who he is. The family lives in a Mexican community where everyone works on a grape farm, but things get shaken up when a new guy named Lucio arrives. Lucio basically seduces Goyo ...
George is a middle class man working a corporate job. He hooks. Up one night with Simeon, who had been hanging out with his homophobic friends earlier. Its only the next day that George sees Simeon working a Kapana stand. Since Simeon is in closet, he initially freaks out but eventually gives in and a sort of love relationship starts between the two men, although that still bothers Simeon when they are in public. George on the other hand has good support both from his colleagues and family. As you can expect, there is forced drama when Simoen suddenly finds out that George is actually HIV positive and feels been lied to. George explains him his point of view and Simeon's sister finally educates him about HIV and PrEP. Finally Simeon gets his head around and gets back together with George.
The film doesn't end on a clear note whether Simeon is now ok with being out and open being who he is. I guess Namibia's Jawas don't make it easy. But with a supportive family, you can also see that George is able to live almost freely being who he is. The production quality is quite alright and decent story but it never manages to go beyond just an ordinary story. It had the potential for being emotional and gripping, but the acting seems quite forced. You never connected with any actor to feel for them and that, in my opinion, is a huge flaw. Having said that, since the film is only an hour long, and I was quite focussed on what's going on. Its an easy breezy watch. The film has been produced by an activism group, which I think deserves special mention and kudos for taking such a brave step in trying to educate not only people from their country but also internationally.
Kapana is not a perfect film by any means, but when you take into account the country, the laws and probably the first gay film, this is still worthy of your time and will give you a different look into Namibian queer relationships, relationships with someone living with HIV while highlighting the power of love. (5.5/10)
Comments