The Crying Game: A Gay Movie Review

[TotallyOz]

The Crying Game

A scorpion needs to cross a river but can't swim. So he asks a frog to give him a ride. The frog says, 'If I do you'll sting me to death.' The scorpion says, 'If I did that we'd both drown.' The frog agrees to give him the ride. Halfway across, the scorpion stings him to death. The frog asks, Why did you do that?' 'It's my nature,' the scorpion says; 'I'm a scorpion.'

This is what a captured British soldier says to an IRA terrorist who has kidnapped him and will probably have to kill him soon. It seems like a way to pass the time, but is actually the main point of The Crying Game.

What we see here is a movie about people having to follow their true natures, whether it may be a good idea or not. This was largely ignored when the film came out because the audience was distracted by a reveal that shouldn't have been shocking at all. That it was shows just how far we've come in getting the general public to be aware of gay culture.

The IRA terrorist, played by a very young Steven Rea, in the end can't actually shoot the guy, but doesn't have to because the soldier is killed by a botched raid of the IRA camp by the UK army.

Afterward, because of a promise he made to the solider, Rea goes to London to see if the soldier's wife is OK.

Now, watching this film today, we realize right off that the place he meets the wife is a very obvious gay bar. And as soon as she starts lip synching, it's obvious that she's a female impersonator.

But nobody understood that back in the day, and Rea certainly has no idea. In fact, he starts to fall in love with her, not realizing that she's a man.

They go on a couple dates and while she's happy to give him blow jobs, won't let him touch her below the waist. Finally she does take off her clothes, and he freaks out and vomits.

How did you not know? she quite reasonably asks.

We can only assume that his rural Irish upbringing left him with no context to understand what gay bars are like, or what subtle cues the transgendered community throws off. (Though that doesn't explain how he does not notice her large man hands.)

The thing is that Rea's character is sensitive. It's his nature. It's why he couldn't kill the soldier. So, even though he's not really attracted to her anymore, he continues to date her, because otherwise he'd hurt her and she's clearly in love with him.

At this point his old IRA terrorist buddies turn up again. One of them, played by Miranda Richardson who looks exactly like Mia Wallace tells him that they need him to kill a judge.

Rea really can't kill anyone because it's not in his nature. Plus, it's very clearly a suicide mission. But then they tell him they'll kill the girl if he doesn't do it.

At this point he finds the girl and cuts her hair and puts her in men's clothes, hoping that they won't recognize her. She senses something is up and when he's sleeping ties him to the bed and demands to know what the hell is up.

Because he's tied up he can't make it to the assasination. But the IRA terrorists because of their nature do turn up and kill the judge anyway.

Richardson escapes and turns up at the girl's apartment, intending to kill both Rea and her. But the girl surprises her and blows her away. She does it because she loves him, and it's her nature to fight for the man she loves.

Rea then sends her back to the gay bar and when the cops show up, he takes the blame for the killing, once again staying true to his nature.

The girl then visits him every day in prison, dedicating her life to him.

Everyone is defined by their nature, and all their actions follow their natures to their logical conclusion.

The theme of the film is that you can't escape who are you inside. And that's done perfectly. In retrospect, it seems both sad and naïve that the audience was so shocked to discover that she was transgendered.

She's fairly obvious about it, and the solider alludes to it multiple times, so even if Rea doesn't pick up on it, you'd think that a more sophisticated audience would.

But that's looking back on the film from today's more enlightened perspective. Which is why if you only saw the film when it came out, The Crying Game is well worth a second look today.

You'll find that you experience the film very differently, and that what we have here isn't a shock ending film, but, rather, a tight thriller about the nature of mankind.

cc boytoy.com 2013

[RA1]

_{I find the story line interesting but not necessarily very "deep". No matter that is only necessary for "some" folks.}

_{One comment I could not help but notice was the one about a man's hands. Has no one ever seen an Allegheny's flight attendant's hands? All those gals were obviously farm gals who had milked cows before becoming cabin attendants. In fact, many years ago, that was a "standard" comment about them. Lovely gals but also obviously farm gals.}

_{Not germane to this movie which sounds intriguing but I could not resist.}

_{Best regards,}

_RA1

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

this clip is from the film, where the "girl" is performing Culture Club's hauntingly beautiful song "The Crying Game" in the bar.

http://youtu.be/p0qVhhIfWr4

As a side note, Jaye Davidson, the actor who portrayed the wife, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the role.