"my body contains as much anger as water"
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the "Institute of Snap!thology," where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
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"my body contains as much anger as water"
It is remarkable how many emotions course through this film's poetry. Defiance, because how can you exist as a black gay man and not live defiantly in the face of multiple jeopardies. Love, because at the core of this is how we love each other. Joy, joy in movement, joy in passion, joy in connection, joy in selfhood. Hope, despair, grief (a montage of loss), peace, anger, discontent, confusion, frustration, lust, worship. An hour's worth of light and sound, a collage of history and currency, capturing the complex morass of identity that is and was living as a distinctive self but also living as defined by what you are resisting, what you are surviving, what you are struggling against. Pride month: 6/30
the cuts from the Eddie Murphy stand up, with slurs flying rapidly at the audience, back to our passionate narrator unable to fully process the hatred on a national stage destroyed me. sometimes you forget that the larger than life icons of our community feel the pain of homophobia, feel it deep in their souls, that years of activism and hearing those words against them don’t numb them from pain. I guess I always hoped I’d get used to it one day, and put that desire onto other forces I viewed as stronger than me. the most radical thing this does, asides from showcasing the power of Black gay love and the genuinely earth shattering montage, is emphasise the difference between anger and hurt. it’s easy to get into a rage over the bigotry that millions in this country suffer, it’s vital to be angry over the racist murders, the homophobic genocides, the constant persecutions of the marginalised by America’s fascist ideologues. but hurt is different, feeling it deep in your bones to the point where you have to cry, where all you can do is think about the pain that’s been caused against you and your community and so many other communities by this world, that’s something that a lot of people disregard for preservation. yet it’s important to feel the hurt of homophobia, of racism, of all the millions lost to AIDS and all that will be lost this year, so we keep them intact. not just anger for their passing, but hurt for the person themselves, the beautiful souls taken from us too soon. we hurt so that one day, most of us won’t have to. that’s the hope. I look into this man’s eyes as tears well up over a homophobic comedian, and think about how little has changed in the years since. I hope that in another 31 years that things are different, that this looks more like a document of history instead of a reflection of contemporary reality. hit real hard.
It is an experimental documentary exploring the experiences, poetry, joy, and struggles of gay Black men in America amidst racism and homophobia.
Marlon Riggs directed the 1990 film, a seminal work in queer Black cinema.
The film received significant acclaim, including winning best documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
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