GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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GAY
FILM REVIEWS BY MICHAEL D. KLEMM
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Save
Me Director:
Screennplay:
Starring:
Unrated, 96 minutes |
Sex,
Lies And Leviticus
I'm going to come right out and say it. I have nothing but contempt for all those Ex-Gay Ministries and I believe they are one of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the public. They have been condemned by every psychiatric and health organization in this country (except those funded by the Religious Right and all those fascist Family Councils) and they cause more harm than good. How does it help to strengthen the family by forcing people to repress their very identity and then pretend to be someone they are not? Reparative therapy only works when there is something to repair. Being gay is not a disease than can be cured, no matter what these sanctimonious charlatans say. |
 Which
brings us - now that my opening rant is out of the way - to
Save Me, a thoughtful new film (directed by Robert Cary from
a story by Craig Chester
and Alan Hines and a screenplay by Robert Desiderio) that keeps an open
mind and tackles this subject head on. Save
Me is a gentle love story that slowly develops against the
backdrop of an Ex-Gay retreat. Mark (Chad
Allen) is a gay party boy who hits rock bottom following an almost fatal
drug overdose. His brother arranges for Mark to spend some time at Genesis
House for some much needed rehab and to cure him of his homosexuality. |
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 Mark
is a mess and Gayle has a good chance to succeed in her efforts to brainwash
him. But Mark's real chance for salvation lies elsewhere and that is where
Scott (Robert Gant) comes
in. Scott has been at Genesis House for five months, battling his own demons
as he struggles to "fix" his sexuality in order to please his ailing and
homophobic father. This is not a spoiler; it doesn't take a crystal ball
to figure out that Scott and Mark are going to fall in love. Gayle watches
their growing friendship with disdain and does everything in her power to
sabotage it. |
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 What
is interesting about Save Me
is that, unlike films such as But I'm A Cheerleader, the ministry
is not ridiculed. This might be troubling to some viewers who would rather
watch something like, for example, Emmet's hilarious near brainwashing at
an Ex-Gay church during the first season of Queer
As Folk or Jack trying to pick up Neal Patrick Harris at an Ex-Gay
meeting on Will and Grace. But the approach here is a little more
subtle and could, perhaps, even convince some people from the other
side that being gay is not something that can be shut off by flipping a
switch. Documentary filmmaker Arthur Dong relates in Fabulous:
The Story Of Queer Cinema, that his interviews with homophobic zealots
for Family Fundamentals (2002) were not designed to give these
fanatics a voice but in order for us to know our enemy. Understanding where
they are coming from, Dong insisted, is the only way that any meaningful
dialogue can ever be initiated between two opposing sides. |
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 It
goes without saying that there are many gay people, myself included, who
have had enough of the other side and don't want to hear what they have
to say. We know we are queer and that no amount of proselytizing is ever
going to change that. Nevertheless, making Gayle into a cartoon might make
us laugh more but showing her as a caring - though misguided - crusader
is, ultimately, a lot more believable and scarier. She disowned her
own teen-aged gay son when he came out to her and, when he died of a drug
overdose five months later, she decided to dedicate her life to saving others
from the same "affliction." Her drive, of course, is ridiculous but it is
also terrifying. Remember how Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's
Nest could "castrate" one of her male psychiatric hospital patients
with a single well-timed comment? |
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 Gayle
refrains from hell and brimstone sermons, and she is an expert at showing
a caring demeanor, but she will use guilt and any means at her disposal
to get her way. She's all smiles and pretends not to be judgmental, but
she is, Blanche, she is. Judith Light's nuanced performance is a marvel
and you might even, at times, find yourself feeling a bit of reluctant sympathy
towards her. But yes, her character is a bitch. I guarantee that
you will revel in her climactic breakdown when she does gets her
well-deserved comeuppance. |
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 Save
Me begins
with a montage that cross-cuts between Mark taking drugs while having mad
sex in a motel room - and the members of Genesis House singing a hymn in
church. Two opposing worlds are introduced and, at the same time, contrasted.
The morning after scene in the motel between Mark and his trick establishes
that Mark is, indeed, fucked up and needs help. The irony is that
he does receive the help that he needs for his addiction at Genesis
House but at the cost of being forced to shed his sexual identity - which,
despite what Gayle thinks, is not what needs to be fixed. |
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 Getting
back to the love story, Mark and Scott will bond in many subtle ways and
you will be rooting for them to get beyond the bullshit they are being fed.
You will also want to smack Gayle upside the head every time that she tries
to get between them and many of these scenes are quite humorous. Gayle is
like the old nuns from the Catholic grade school I attended in the 60s;
she even tells one of the lads to get a haircut. (His very apropos reply
is "Jesus had long hair.") Another young man is corrected when he crosses
his legs like a woman. When Ted refers to those who have been there the
longest as "Fifth Phasers," Mark asks "What is this? Scientology?" When
one young man "graduates" from their institute, another nudges one of his
comrades and says "He'll never make it." |
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 Out
actors Chad Allen and Robert
Gant are both terrific as Mark and Scott. The love story that develops
between them is quite touching. These are two men in pain and they need
each other. Like Ben Bruchner, the character that Gant played on Queer
As Folk, Scott is also the ultimate nice guy who most would probably
kill to have as a boyfriend and Gant excels in the role. His story is actually
more interesting than Mark's and his epiphany, when he realizes that the
only reason he did this was to please his uncaring father, is dramatic and
heartfelt. His climactic confrontation with Gayle, when he asks her if she's
ever really listened to the words in the Bible, is one of the most
powerful scenes I have ever witnessed in a queer film. |
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 For
the most part, Save Me is a very
satisfying and thought provoking film. It is beautifully filmed and acted.
There are many dramatic peaks scattered throughout and its pace seldom drags.
Viewers will relish the small ways in which the guys grow closer while Gayle
loses control. One of the more effective devices employed was a series of
monologues by the different men, delivered to an unseen counselor, in which
each bares their souls and admits that they still have sexual feelings for
men. Save Me verges on the melodramatic
at times and, unfortunately, also commits my cardinal sin of sappy background
music and really banal songs accompanying scene transitions, but this isn't
enough to derail the film. |
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Chad Allen also appears
in: Robert Gant also
appears in: More on Craig Chester: See also:
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 Save Me is a First Run Features release. Click here to purchase this title. Click The Banner To View First Run's Other Gay/Lesbian Titles |
Genesis
House is ruled with an iron fist by Gayle (Judith Light) and her husband,
Ted (Stephen Lang). "We are a Christian Recovery Program," Gayle tells
Mark on his arrival, "Specializing in sexual broken-ness." Gayle fiercely
believes that she is doing the right thing but, at the same time, she
is far from delusional. "You have the genes the Lord designed for you,"
she tells Mark, "But you have the choice to live in His image."
There's that word again. Choice. She freely admits that she cannot
change him but insists that she can help him find what she believes
is the true path to righteousness - which, of course, means giving up
being queer.
Though
some might wish that Gayle was more of a whack-job like the Reverend Fred
Phelps, the film wouldn't have been as interesting. Save
Me does a nice job tackling a polarizing issue and I doubt
that viewers will ever forget it. Its message is one of love and it is
impossible, at the end, not to have a lump in your throat when
Mark responds to "May the Lord be with you" by saying, with certainty,
"He is." You will also be creeped out when a new arrival comes to take
Mark's place and the cycle continues. It's a little like the end of a
horror film, such as The Omen, where the demon child survives -
Gayle might have lost her battle with Mark and Scott but she still survives
to do damage to others and that is scarier than any slasher movie.