The documentary about Brandon Teena retells a horrific story about a murder of a peculiar young girl who believed she was born the wrong sex. Adopting the name Brandon, we learn that he went through life at his small town befriending many people and even finding partners in relationships successfully and happily. Recounting the details after the death of Brandon, there is some interesting on screen titles to give information about certain dates, court hearings and accounts from Brandon however this can only hold the audience for so long and doesn't really make up for the cheap, distractingly poor cinematography. In one scene there is a camera device where there is a dutch tilt from a travelling car looking at houses and the sky above that has no relevance to the narrative whatsoever. The talking heads also, become boring in their blandness and the content of each interview slowly gets tiresome in it's repetitiveness concerning how people perceived Brandon from friends and family. Saying this, the first act of the film is highly polluted with people's accounts of who Brandon was, how he treated those around him and an eventually pieced puzzle about how he befriended the two who eventually killed him after all the same old content and narrative that the audience are subject to for a lengthy period of time. However, the interviews do give Brandon substance and makes him a very likable person giving him much sympathy to his tragic end. We learn that he had stole just to buy gifts for his loved ones and how he brought happiness to people in a town full of not too appealing people in a prejudice America. Once we find out exactly what happened in the tragic last Christmas/New Year period in Brandon's life, there are disturbing accounts of what happened and what Brandon was subject to by his so called 'Friends'. The most disturbing piece of film shows still information and audio over the image from the actually interview Brandon was in with a Police Officer concerning his bullying. It is almost laughable how moronic and insensitive the Officer is in his investigation forcefully questioning his sexual abuse to detail and unbelievably asking for a repeat of the statement in very unprofessional terms. I was disappointed that the film was so long, it became hard to concentrate on in the final act. New people were introduced in what seemed random talking heads and the Directors/Writers Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir seemed to lose their way in the narrative by concentrating on the two men who murdered Brandon and their court case. It seemed like a whole different film and purpose in studying their prosecution and the pace suggested that possibly they could have (and in my opinion, should have) in fact made another documentary into their story and the possibility of looking at their motives and Southern Americas discriminatory motives today.
Review of The Brandon Teena Story
