Out at the Movies: "A Jihad for Love", "Postal"

Two movies open this week in limited release with themes of sexuality, race, and politics ... and they couldn't be more different if they tried.

A Jihad for Love
This intimate, fascinating, and troubling documentary follows the lives of a handful of gay Muslims dealing with various degrees of persecution in their homelands and abroad. Some have fled after having been imprisoned for being gay or from threat of execution, others are trying to reconcile with their religion or nation, and others live quietly and in fear, praying for Allah to change them. For a Western audience the degree of intolerance present in these communities may be staggering, but the brave wills of the film's participants cannot help but inspire. The differences between countries with national religion and those without (many gays and lesbians flee to Turkey, for example, which is largely Muslim but does not criminalize homosexuality) is fascinating, and the film's most compelling story - that of four gay friends in exile awaiting asylum - is harrowing enough to feel unreal. But the incredible support that these men and women provide one another, support that their religion and communities do not and will not offer, is a testament to the strength of love under even the most dire circumstances.

Postal
Hands-down the worst movie I've seen in years, supposed "satire" Postal starts in the cockpit of one of the 9/11 planes and actually goes downhill from there. Claiming to "send up" contemporary American life, this lazy, stupid, and utterly pointless collection of bad jokes and worse acting is the brainchild of Uwe Boll, a German-born filmmaker known for ruining several other video game adaptations (yes, this is based on a video game, somehow) and challenging his critics to boxing matches.

Zack Ward (left) & Dave Foley in a scene from Postal

What's gay? Well, aside from a few crude gay jokes, a lead character (a sham cult leader played by Dave Foley, who should have to perform Kids in the Hall skits for free in Times Square for the next 10 years for appearing in this) randomly makes out with a man about to shoot him and comes out as gay right before he is gunned down near the end of the movie. It's one bad joke in a sea of far worse, and while it's really not that offensive and one of the more thought-out gags of the film, I would have rather there had been nothing gay whatsoever in this mess. Thank God this disaster didn't get the wide distribution that the producers were hoping for, because mean-spirited, poorly-made idiocy like this is the last thing we need polluting our theaters. Avoid at all costs.