"Holding The Man" Movie ~ Part One

It's not often that you see a movie that stops you in your tracks and that leaves you so haunted days afterwards. Watching the movies only a couple of rows back from the screen everything seemed so much larger then life that it was nearly unbelievable. It was just an ordinary Tuesday night at the Dendy movie cinema in Newtown where I got free tickets from the Showfilm First company. I met Deb in the city because she was coming from her first day at work so we could see the 6:30pm showing of the movie. We had a bit of Thai food nearby and was only about 5 minutes late for the movie yet it had already started by that time because by the looks of it I don't think it had any previews. We walked into a totally packed theatre where we just managed to find a couple of seats the second row back from the  screen.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3671542/

 Over the next couple of hours we were transported back into a time where the worlds and gay history was changing forever. Where the age of innocence was gone forever and where gay men  were eyeball to eyeball with death. Also how an innocent and free teenage love evolved with an adult backdrop of a rapidly changing times with parents, friends, families, schools, Catholic church etc were dealing with the boy's sexuality yet the spectre of AIDS as well. We were like a fly on the wall being let into the lives of these boy's who once lived, breathed, felt and ultimately fell in love and somehow stayed in love over the next 15 years despite separation, differences of life's ups and downs. During the movie I found myself crying with such a heartfelt pain and sadness because things were coming up for me from my past. Deb was crying as well next to me because we were both so very moved with the movie.

It also showed that despite both the boys imperfections and flaws especially Tim's wayward ways there still was a such a strong yet tender bond. Also to have an insight into what both of the boy's families was going through and feeling was also amazing as well. I wondered to myself how the parents and families felt seeing the two guys going through this. To see a once healthy person get sicker and sicker being terminally ill to eventually die. What made it even more sad was how young they both were at the time this happened. Yet you also had to remember these types of stories of young people were being repeated many thousands of time the world over. Not only the gay men yet the people who had blood transfusion's and other innocent people as well who didn't ask to get it in the first place.

What also made you think was how it gave you a really honest account of what the gay man scene  was really like in those days where there was so much sleaze an promiscuity. I'm not to sure how much has changed these days there in the scene yet all this type of thing is a whole other subject which I don't want to go into. When I was watching the movie I wondered what drove these guy's to do what they did? What attracted them to that? Why even with a committed relationship they still had a roving eye? Amongst so many other unanswered questions..

Anyway there is still so much to say about this movie and my feeling for it yet I will share more later. I've got things I've got to do today so this is why I've decided to do this blog in two parts... Yet I hope that this makes you think... Until later dear readers.....