• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Film
  • DVD
  • Editorial
  • About ScreenFish

ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • OtherFish
  • Podcast
  • Give

sex worker

Tiger Within – Choosing Not to Hate

December 18, 2020 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“I think God gives everyone the same gift. Most people don’t unwrap the gift.”

Rafal Zielinski’s Tiger Within is a study of brokenness, fear, hatred, wisdom, forgiveness, and healing. It is the story of two very different people who manage to find a connection they both need to survive.

Casey (played by the 14 year old Margot Josefsohn) is a 14 year old punk runaway who has come to L.A. to live with her father, who obviously is more interested in his new family. She quickly loses everything she has (except her swastika emblazoned jacket) on the streets. Samuel (the nonagenarian Ed Asner) is a holocaust survivor, now all alone in the world. His days are empty, except for the bitterness that remains towards everyone.

Their first encounter takes place in the Jewish cemetery where Samuel has gone to visit his wife’s grave. On the way out he sees Casey curled up asleep—seeing only the back of her jacket with the swastika. After he walks away, he returns and waits for her to awaken. They begin a very tentative conversation. Casey is wary of what Samuel wants. He buys her food and takes her to his apartment so she can shower and sleep. His acts of kindness make only a crack in her defenses.

Some time later, we find Casey working at a massage parlor (yes, that kind of massage parlor), and living in a cheap motel. When Samuel runs across her again, they continue to talk. They make a deal. She can live with him if she goes to school and removes the swastika from her jacket. It gives Casey a place that is safe, and it give Samuel a chance to act as a parent. (He lost his daughters in the Holocaust.) The bond they build sustains them, but it is also very fragile.

We might wonder why Samuel would create that first encounter and why he would struggle to make a bond with this girl who was so different and so difficult. He tells her that it was because he made a promise to his wife—to stop hating. And by focusing on not hating Casey, perhaps he’d learn to not hate everything else.

The film touches upon a number of issues of import. One of those is holocaust denial. When Samuel and Casey first meet, she tells him that her mother has taught her that the Holocaust is a lie. Polls have recently found that many young people either don’t know of or don’t believe the facts about the Holocaust. In a world where racial hatred and neo-Nazis have become more visible and vocal, it is wrong to remain silent.

Another issue in the film is that of young sex workers. As a runaway, about the only job available for Casey is a clandestine job providing “happy endings”. What strikes us in this story is that even though she has been a sex worker, she is terrified of a boy in school asking her for a date. She’s never had a date. She never been kissed. That cross of innocence and repugnance help us see a bit of the humanity of sex workers.

The big issue is forgiveness—not an easy thing for anyone. Samuel’s bitterness towards the world has an obvious source in the Holocaust. He lost his family. That Casey would think it never happened is appalling to him. To welcome Casey into his life is obviously a challenge.

Casey has much to forgive as well. Neither her mother nor her father wants anything to do with her. She doesn’t fit in with anyone around her. She is victimized in various ways. She has had no real love in her life.

Yet, it is not so much the objects of their bitterness and hatred that is the real focus of forgiveness. Before either can move on to a better life, they must first forgive themselves.

Film credits are often ignored when they come on the screen. The credits for this film are worth noting. The first of the closing credits are “special thanks for all the words of wisdom from” a variety of spiritual advisors, including Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Native American, and Buddhist. (There are videos of these advisors on the film’s website under “Forgiveness”.)

Tiger Within is available on virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy Film Art Planet.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: forgiveness, Holocaust denial, holocaust survivors, Neo-Nazi, sex worker, teen runaway

Kiki – Community for the Marginalized

February 24, 2017 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“When someone steps on to the ballroom floor, they’re not just competing in categories. They’re telling a story. Someone who walks says, ‘I am beautiful. This is who I am. I’m lovely no matter what you say, what you think. I’m beautiful.’”

The LGBT community is far more diverse than we may usually think. One subculture within that broader community is voguing, which combines expressive dance, elaborate costumes, and a ton of attitude. In New York City, young LGBT people of color may take part in the Kiki scene. This has been chronicled by Sara Jordenö in her Spirit Award nominated (for “Truer than Fiction”) documentary Kiki.

For those unfamiliar with voguing, you might want to think of it as “So You Think You Can Dance” through the lens of a Gay Pride parade. The film takes us into some of the Kiki balls, where various “houses” compete amidst a raucous revelry. The houses are in one sense teams, but they often serve as a kind of surrogate family. The heads of the houses are often called Mother and Father. This grows out of the marginalization that many LGBT people have had to deal with through their lives. Within these houses each person can find acceptance for who they are.

The diversity of the community is seen in the various people we meet. They each have their own story and find themselves on their own spot on the sexuality spectrum. We discover the labels we apply don’t always fit the way we think they should. (This is one of the reasons that Q [Queer] is often added on the LGBT. It signifies that the gender identification of some doesn’t quite fit the categories of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender.) Some of those we meet have stories of rejection, others have been accepted by their families, but still feel like outsiders in the world at large.

The film also takes time to highlight stories that continue to be important in the LGBT community, even as acceptance has grown through the years. Homelessness, HIV, and sexual exploitation in term of sex workers continue to be some of the things young LGBT people face as they try to find their way in a world that is often hostile to them. The community that has grown up around the Kiki balls is for some a lifeboat in a stormy sea. The voguing scene is not just about providing expression to marginalized people. It also provides community action that seeks to address some of the issues being faced.

For many outside this community, the extremes of dress and sexualized behavior may be disconcerting and perhaps even repellant. But the community that has been formed in the process is one that provides nurture, safety, and stability for many.

Photos courtesy of IFC Films

 

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: dance, documentary, Harlem, HIV, homeless, LGBT, New York City, Sara Jordenö, sex worker, voguing

Primary Sidebar

THE SF NEWS

Get a special look, just for you.

sf podcast

Hot Off the Press

  • No Man’s Land: Welcome
  • FREAKY Comes Home this February…
  • The 2nd: Bearing Arms with Brutal Results
  • 1982 – Love and War
  • One Night in Miami: History for Today
Find tickets and showtimes on Fandango.

where faith and film are intertwined

film and television carry stories which remind us of the stories God has woven since the beginning of time. come with us on a journey to see where faith and film are intertwined.

Footer

ScreenFish Articles

No Man’s Land: Welcome

FREAKY Comes Home this February…

  • About ScreenFish
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 · ScreenFish.net · Built by Aaron Lee