Won't ask, can't tell

 

It is hard for me, as a Hetero/Cisgender White Man, to imagine the difficulty a Gay Black Man would have had (or even today does have) just living in the world. It is even harder to imagine what that same man would have had to endure in the Armed Forces, considering I also have never served.

Having watched the The Inspection, I can at least say I have some idea of that difficulty. Elegance Bratton's dreamily photographed, yet hard-hitting film tells the apparently true story of one such man, Ellis French, who enrolls in the Marines after a tough young life with a Mom who "just don't understand". Dad is apparently absent (what else is new?) and Ellis seems to believe that the Armed Forces will give him a sense of belonging, and structure that growing up poor, and uneducated hasn't done.

Many enter the Military with similar expectations. They are usually disappointed in the reality of life in the Corps, or whatever branch in which they serve. Mainly because Basic Training is really, really tough. And, until recently, primarily Male, and Hetero. At moment in time our hero enrolls, there are some women, but the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy makes being openly (or even closeted) Gay dangerous business.

In Jeremey Pope's nuanced performance, French doesn't hide being Gay, but is never open enough about it that others should really know. But, alas, they do, and the resulting ridicule, and regular beatings from white, black and Latino men give us a small window into the suffering that any non-conformist in the Military must endure.

French does endure, not much aided by his Commanding Officer, Sargent Laws, played with brutal forcefulness by the great Bokeem Woodbine. Although there are some who support French -- including a closeted Officer -- none can be obvious about it. The dichotomy between trying to create a soldier, and suppressing the 'disgusting' gayness that Laws should feel seems to be non-existent. The irony is that commanding officers, especially during Training, both love their trainees and must act like they hate them: tear them down and rebuild them as fighting machines so they can go into battle and prevail.

At some level, Laws must feel this conflict, but he simply cannot show it, if he does. Woodbine plays the character with such conviction that, were it not for Pope's beautiful portrayal of French, Laws would steal the show. Or French's mother, played with similar grace by the equally great Gabrielle Union might do so as well, as her "cold cold heart" melts only slightly as she watches her son try to progress to some accomplishment in life: graduating Basic Training.

Hard to watch, but worth the effort.