#93 - The Secrets (Ha-Sodot)

Oh yes, I have mentioned The Secrets for so long and I have finally gotten to actually writing about it! Excited? I am. Why? Because I effing love this movie. It's so good... in every possible way. But, before I go and gush about this Israeli 2008 gem, I'll give you a bit of background.

The movie centers around Naomi and Michel and their time in a women's Jewish seminary. In the first part of the film there is a lot of tension and disagrements between these two characters, but of course as all movies go - they eventually become friends and lovers. Their story however, is not the central one. Actually, you don't get to any lesbian loving until maybe 2/3rds of the film has passed, and until then, there really isn't any indication that that's where the movie is headed. Most of the movie centers around the two women helping out Anouk, a French woman searching redemption for her sins.

Part of the reason I love this movie is because it goes into so many different aspects. It's neither a movie about two girls who fall in love, nor is it a movie about redemption. It's a movie that incorporates so many different aspects and you're just left completely awestruck by the quality.

The acting was fantastic, as was the script. The movie may have run for 20 minutes too long, but you know what.... that was 20 extra minutes where I got to see Noemi and Michel. Have I mentioned how incredibly beautiful both leading women are? And their interaction with each other? Wow. They were so friggen adorable that I didn't know if I should go "aww" when thinking about their cuteness, or be jealous that I will never be able to reach that level of aww factor with anyone.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is not a happy film. In fact, the ending will have you confused and wanting to go to Avi Nesher herself and demand a better ending. But, that's part of the movie itself. I won't spoil it, but I will say that it's not your traditional lesbian movie. Neither Michel no Noemi die, but that doesn't mean that either of them, as well as the audience, isn't left heartbroken.

Don't watch this movie after a break-up, or if you're feeling vulnerable, but definitely watch this movie. It's so good, and it will leave you haunted for a while.

National Coming Out Day

Well, seeing Telemachus actually post fueled a fire in me to end my blogging drought- and what better way of doing this than blogging about National Coming Out Day!

For those of you who don't know, National Coming Out Day is on October 11 and it's the day that is an internationally-observed civil awareness day for coming out and discussion about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trangsender issues. (thank you wiki!)

So, what are your schools doing for that day? It's a shame that Cornell's gay community is not that involved and you don't really hear much of anything on National Coming out Day, but they do have a few things going on. I wish that this day was a lot more popular and better known. It wasn't until this year that I even knew or heard of it before hand, and that was only through the queer-related listserves. I bothers me when I think about how little must be heard of these issues on smaller, more conservative campuses when I begint to consider that Cornell is so big and so liberal and yet to little is heard on this campus.

However, hopefully, this year, the LGBTQ groups plan to have a few things set up on the main plaza on campus, including a closet door to step through! I also received an email on the LGBT-listserve asking people to send in their names so that they can print them out and post them on the newspaper on that day. Just list all the names of the allys and gay/lesbians/queers on campus. I feel like this is a pretty ballsy move for anyone. Granted, they probably wouldn't face a lot of backlash for doing so, and while I'm not comfortable with just putting my name out there like that- I totally give props and kudos to anyone who does.

So anyway, what do YOU plan to do for National Coming Out Day? I plan to just wear my Queer's fight back shirt (an event last semester) and my rainbow belt! Any more plans/ideas?