My Straight Son (2012)
aka Azul y no tan rosa
Everyone hides something because they are afraid. But what actually happens is often worse if we let that fear take over and guide our actions.
My synopsis: Diego and Fabrizio live a good life together in Caracas, Venezuela. Although they haven’t quote tied the knot, they have plans to move in together and eventually get married. Meanwhile, Diego’s son, Armando, comes to stay with him for awhile. But that relationship has some issues because Diego has been absent for the past five years. In the midst of this, Fabrizio is the victim of an awful hate crime. Diego must deal with his personal loss as well as rebuild the relationship with his son.
One of the main themes that reoccurred is fear. Fear of rejection, fear of lack of understanding, fear of others… We see Diego being afraid to be open about being gay with his son because he thinks he won’t understand. Armando is afraid to show the girl he likes what he really looks like because he’s afraid she won’t like him. In both cases the end result is worse than the fear itself.
Diego has to work on rebuilding a broken relationship with his son. Because of his fear he has been absent from his life for five years, and his son doesn’t understand why. Armando risks losing the girl he likes because he starts the relationship out with a lie.
Other characters like Perla Marina deal with the fear of domestic abuse. Delirio seems to fear failure. Each of them deals with it in their own ways, and sometimes they are successful – other times not.
We also see the homophobia that seems rampant in some circles in Venezuela. We have the gay bashing, Fabrizio’s asshole homophobic father that won’t let Diego in the hospital room to see him, and the random slurs used in everyday conversation. Even one of Diego’s relatives is fairly nasty to him when it seems it is an open secret that he is gay. It seems like although slow progress is being made in terms of civil rights, there is a lot of homophobia and discrimination still left.
One of the takeaways from this film is that if you follow your fear rather than the truth, it simply doesn’t lead where you want. If you follow your heart then you can put your passion and energy there, and better things will happen. Be yourself. Delirio says, “I am how I am; so what!” Granted sometimes fear is for real reasons, and it protects us. But sometimes an overprotective emotion holds us back.
The movie was a bit on the slow side, but that time was dedicated to developing the characters, their stories, and to dig into what made them tick. It was well worth it in the end to see how they had changed as it gave you more of a connection to them. It was well-produced with good cinematography, music, and overall production values.
I really liked this film for its honest approach and the overall feel of the story. I think the themes it brought out are universal, and not just ones set up for a gay-themed movie. It was unique and brought out a range of emotions. This one is definitely worth a watch.
Availability:
TLA: DVD and Streaming
Amazon: DVD
Netflix: DVD
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