I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
The film takes its name from the FLH manifesto published in 1973, which in the film functions as the center of the story of the hard struggle carried out by the LGBT community from the formation, in the late 60s, of the first group Nuestro Mundo led by Héctor Anabitarte, until crowning with Equal Marriage and the Gender Identity law. From five testimonies of protagonists of those times (Jorge Luis Giacosa, Guillermo García, Valeria del Mar Ramírez, Daniel Molina and Alejandro Modarelli), issues like marginalization, discrimination and struggle in the most diverse fields are reconstructed.
It was an interesting perspective to see a lot of background imagery and videos constantly being shown behind the voiceover. That helps viewers keep their interest because constantly there is something new to stimulate your visual senses. Although after almost half way through the film, I started losing interest. Trying to keep up with subtitles and watching visuals and all became too much. Also, somewhere my interest in the story also started dwindling and I was like , I wish this film was tightly edited. Watching some of the historical aspects of how gays were treated back in the day not just in Argentina but other parts of the world was quite an eye-opener. I mean, by now we all know the story of how gay liberation has been a movement for many years and how some of the older generation have given their hard sweat and tears to make this happen, but seeing it every single time, opens up the same wounds. Anyway, overall this documentary was strictly ok for me and nothing that memorable. (3.5/10)
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