"J. Edgar" (U.S. 2011 Movie)

[pkristen]

Originally posted on my blog: Tuesday 22 November 2011 - Filed under LGBT Media + Movie

Summary
The story of J. Edgar Hoover from his beginning through his rise to power and end in the forms of flashbacks and self-narration. Through it all is also the story of the FBI and American politics during his long lifetime.

My Thoughts (with potential spoilers!)
Even when I was in hardcore activism in my twenties, I had the community “knowledge” that Hoover was gay. And honestly, I didn’t have any interest in finding out more about him other than he was the head of the FBI and apparently despised for being power-hungry and ruthless.

So fast forward to me seeing that this movie was coming to the theaters last week (not having regular television access, I have a life blissfully devoid of commercials.) My curiousity was piqued to see how he would be portrayed. And since I like going into movies ‘blind’, I did absolutely no research on the film beforehand.

I saw it Sunday night and was frankly mesmerized by Dicaprio’s performance, given the only other time I’ve ever seen him was in “Titanic” oh so many years ago.

The movie was actually perfect for me, as a documentary/history buff with a heightened awareness about revisitionist versions. Plus, the FBI evolvement kept the back of my brain toying with my obsession with forensics documentaries and past devotion to the “X-Files”.

And as an lesbian activist, I was quite pleased at the portrayal of Edgar as a flawed, gay man in a life-long relationship that would put many to envy. Though I will admit that I smirked at the moment of “reveal” that I was apparently in the very small minority of attendees who prior knowledge.

But I will admit that the biggest surprise to me was that Clint “Dirty Harry” Eastwood was behind the film.

As the crowd left the theater, I heard a big burly guy declare in amazement to his companions, “I had no idea Hoover was gay!”

Given that he could have used more derogatory words and sound disgusted but didn’t, I continued to be pleased.

[pkristen]

So I finally watched the mini behind the scenes video on the disc and was struck by how even the creative team was divided on whether J. Edgar was really gay or not (the screenwriter thinking "yes", and director Eastwood thinking "no.)

But I must commend Eastwood for creating a film that was fully balanced to let the viewer make up her/his own mind on the matter.