Reviews & Ratings for
Southern Comfort More at IMDbPro »

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Index

11 reviews in total

---

19 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Stunning documentary of gender pioneers in "Bubba" country., 17 February 2001
Author: Bob from New York, NY

This film won the Grand Jury Documentary prize at Sundance this year.

Against the narrative of Robert, a transgender female-to-male responding to the irony of ovarian cancer, the director creates a deeply moving portrayal of love and determination in the face of prejudice.

Robert lives in rural Georgia, which he describes as "Bubba country" and the "home of the KKK." Nonetheless most of Robert's encounters with the heterosexual community are recounted as upbeat examples of surprising tolerance. Without any pretense, artifice, or apology, he is magnetically compelling in speech and movement. His complete lack of bitterness sets aside the distractions of his cancer, enabling the viewer share his satisfaction in life as a man and his joy in his relationships.

In spite of challenging subject matter, this documentary of Robert's self-selected "family" of transgendered men and women (and one heterosexual partner) is unerring in its ability to humanize without condescension. By not politicizing or sensationalizing her subjects' gender issues, the director has achieved a profoundly affecting emotional depth.

The film is loving and in its clarity, refreshing. I recommend it highly.

---

16 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
best doc I've seen, 16 June 2004
Author: legallyblonde254 from North Carolina

This documentary has won many awards and I can see why. This is one of the best documentaries that I have ever seen. It is about a trans-gender from a woman to man named Robert Eads. This takes place in rural Toccoa, Georgia where Robert resides in a trailer. Because of prejudice and hate, the doctors refuse to treat Robert's ovarian cancer, which develop in his existing ovaries. He finds comfort in his trans-gender girlfriend Lola Cola and attends his last Southern Comfort conference. This film taught me a lot about diversity and how it is at times disregarded in this country. This made me open my eyes and stand up for the minorities of this country. I hope that the people who view this will get the same feeling whenever they view this documentary

---

13 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
A thought provoking real life drama, 4 February 2003

Author: Haydeck from Slovenia

This has to be the best documentary I have ever seen. Just a matter of time when someone will do a movie about Robert Eads, the most extraordinary southern cowboy. This documentary could have been mediocre if it wasn't for him, his incredible wit, optimism and intelligence. A real man from head to toes who ironically died of a widespread ovarian cancer, primarily because no doctor wanted to treat a transsexual. It is a marvelous real life drama that doesn't preach, it simply delivers the story that deeply touches you, points out the stupidity of prejudices and inhumanity of American health system and rises questions about what gender really means.

---

13 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
The seasons of a man's death., 15 April 2002

Author: Doug Phillips (janabro@aol.com) from Seattle, Washington

Set in the verdant yet somehow stark landscape of rural Georgia this film opens with the female-to-male transgendered subject of the film, Robert Eades, stating: `This is Bubba country.' And he is SO accurate.

This powerful film profiles transgendered people in very poor and very rural Georgia. Most of them are faced with poor or non-existent medical care by `professionals' that are, more often than not, embarrassed by their patients. These are people that are just trying to find a little happiness for themselves and receive what should be basic human rights -- and time and again they are denied those rights.

While the name of the film is "Southern Comfort," that is also the name of the annual transgender conference/convention held in Georgia. The subjects of this film survive from one day to the next for the few days each year when they know that they are not alone. As Robert states: `For once we outnumber THEM.'

Robert is in the nearly unbelievable position of being a man dying of ovarian cancer. He was unable to receive proper medical care because of the ignorance and uncaring of the doctors that were available to him. They all seemed to feel that he would be an embarrassment to their ‘medical practices.'

There are horrific examples of surgical horror stories and botched operations -- with the ghastly scars to prove it.

The interviews with the families of the subjects of the films are especially revealing:

The son of Robert Eades (from when he was a woman) can't quite keep straight whether to refer to him as a man or as his `mom.' But it is clear that he loves him deeply.

The father of Robert says: `I had a dream that my daughter would marry a man that would be President of the United States.' Never imagining for a moment that his daughter could be president. Because in his narrow and limited mind women cannot be president just as women cannot be men. He refused to have his face shown when he was interviewed.

What shines out above all else in this transcendent film about a man's life is the wisdom, wit, humour and charm of a man who the system failed. Remarkably, a man that showed no overt bitterness right up to his death in a hospice.

Lola Cola -- Roberts partner and a male-to-female transgendered person -- closes the film by saying: `Nature delights in diversity ... why can't human beings?'

---

14 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A Foucaultian discourse on sexuality, 21 November 2003
Author: Crystal (idreaminamythyst) from Santa Barbara, CA

At its essence, Kate Davis's film, Southern Comfort, is about a transgendered man who is dying from cancer in his female reproductive organs. Southern Comfort is more than this, however. It also deals with the intricacies of the social community that the main character, Robert Eads, has surrounded himself with since transitioning from female to male, details the romantic attachment that Robert has formed with his girlfriend Lola Cola near the end of his life, and examines the dynamics between Robert and his genetic family. More than this, Southern Comfort engages in a discourse on human sexuality that serves to enlighten the audience viewing the film on the realities of transgendered life in the backcountry of the Deep South.

---

14 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Beautiful, yet tragic!, 18 April 2002
Author: Jolene Johanna (janesierra1978@yahoo.com) from Covina, California

I recently viewed the documentary "Southern Comfort" and I can see why it won a prize at Sundance. This documentary chronicles the final year in the life of a transsexual man named Robert. It shows how prejudice and ignorance harms those whom are viewed to be "different" in our society. This film shows the love of Robert and Lola, as well as Robert's adopted family. I highly recommend this film.

---

10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Lovely..And Amazing., 9 July 2004
Author: LovelyShiksa from Wexford, Ireland

These people show the extreme prejudices that transgender people face everyday - especially in extremely conservative parts of the rural south. They are made to feel ugly and unhuman by people in the medical profession. These people have nothing but love in their hearts and are modern day heroes to those that are affected by their same plight.

There is no narration and very few explanations for what is happening. "no prejudice, no hate, and the love that I have gotten from you all for the last 7 years" is a line from his last speech. He talks of intimacy of transgender people at a conference.

Ironically, Brandon died of ovarian/cervical cancer because he was refused a hysterectomy early on in his change.

A++++

---

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
The life of Robert Eads transcends gender barriers, and this documentary shows the harsh reality of society's prejudices., 2 May 2005

Author: bethanyj from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This documentary is extremely well-made, taking the subject of gender that many tend to steer away from and making it personal, emotional, and applicable. Robert Eads is faced with a profound irony - after living his life as a man, he finds that the only biological part of him that is female is killing him. The infuriating piece of this story is that he is denied treatment because of his gender identity. The tragedy of this story is powerful, and it allows viewers to see the reality of society's prejudices against people who do not fit into perfect categories. The end of the film leaves viewers with an important question, "Nature delights in diversity. Why don't human beings?"

---

9 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
good documentary, 15 April 2002
Author: TL27 from milwaukee

Another great documentary shown on HBO's America Undercover series.I found this to be an ultimately sad film.It made me appreciate my own life and glad I am happy in my own skin.I wish these people happiness.....somewhere in their lives.

---

Sensitive portrayal of a little-known community, 15 October 2011
Author: evening1 from New York City

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Who knew that transsexual people had their own annual convention? This fascinating documentary takes us to the Southern Comfort gathering, which at one point honors the protagonist of this film, Robert "Grandpa" Eads, a female-to-male transsexual in the final stages of cervical cancer.

We also get to meet Eads's surrogate family of other transsexuals -- his girlfriend Lola Cola, son Maxwell and his girlfriend, and friend Cas. Along the way we encounter Eads's biological kin. His embarrassed parents insist on having their faces blotted out. His son at times refers to Robert as Mom -- yet says that if he married he'd have wanted Robert to serve as his best man. Representing the new generation, Robert's adorable young grandson is unconditionally accepting.

The folksy, pipe-smoking Eads is a delightful personality, completely at home in his own skin. He sensitively describes the Catch-22 dilemma of being born into the wrong sex -- one faces the choice of remaining miserable in that gender, or making everyone one loves miserable by getting surgery to make the change. He describes the rejection he felt within his own family of origin, quoting his mother as saying: Why couldn't you have just remained gay?

The movie touches on other problems, such as prejudice in the wider community, including among medical professionals, the financial challenges of obtaining sexual-reassignment surgery, and the presence of medical quacks who may not be qualified to perform the transformation.

This gently educative work is well worth viewing.

RIP, Mr. Eads.

---

---

Page 1 of 2:

[1] [2]

Add another review

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Awards
External reviews	Plot keywords	Main details
Your user reviews	Your vote history