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 ...
Manga and Sory are two young men studying in school and very much in love with each other. Manga tells his widowed mother of the relationship, and Sory tells his father. Both parents forbid their sons to see each other again. Surprisingly their classmates are very supportive of the relationship. Manga's mother turns to witchcraft to cure her son, and he unsuccessfully undergoes a lengthy form of aversion therapy over multiple years. We don't see much of Sory during this time, although we do know that he is not interested in running his father's business but wants to do farming in a village. Manga meets and becomes engaged to a white woman called Oumou. Meanwhile Sory also marries a girl. Both men try to make their heterosexual relationships work but are ultimately drawn back to each other. Manga visits Sory in his village and meets his family. The end is with two men driving together towards an uncertain future.
I can't even imagine how the film would have been received when it came out. I mean, even in today's time, homosexuality is still a very much taboo subject in most of Africa. It was very refreshing to see how their classmates were all comfortable with their relationship and even supportive. The parents reactions were understandable. The whole conversion therapy, mixed with religion, spirituality again is something that's a very real issue in many countries there. Manga and Sori are two symbolic characters who have chosen to define love and express it with whom they feel attracted despite the challenges and persecution. This act is a noble one to their conscience and the innocent lover. Families are very important in African culture and you can see that younger folks keep their happiness second to the family's needs; which is what both Sory and Manga do. Even though hopefully the future is bright for two men, you really feel bad for women who they leave behind. It was no fault of theirs. The film, as you can imagine, feels dated and a bit amateurish in a lot of places. The characters suddenly jump into this shouting mode to put forward their point which just seems quite unreal. The whole therapy sequence goes on for way too long and can easily be trimmed.
Thankfully this is a film about love and not sex. There is nothing stereotypical about the film, although this is far from being perfect (amateur acting and direction at places); but it does pack a lot of events in its short time. It is definitely worth giving a try. (5/10)
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Interestingly I have lived in Johannesburg for 18 months.