VIFF 2020: Cured
viff 2020With recent pushes for tolerance and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, it is easy to forget just how dark things once were. Just a few decades ago, being gay was not just frowned upon but something that was actively attacked by society – identifying as gay would be defined scientifically as a mental illness. This classification prompted plenty, including scientists, to look for cures rather than helping those who were LGBTQ+, which left a permanent scar on the community. This is a time in LGBTQ+ which is often pushed to the back of history lessons, but Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon's new documentary Cured is not ready to let these events fade too quickly.
The best word that can be used to describe Cured is "haunting". Whilst history lessons tend to treat the events of gay liberation as events from a distant past, the reality is that these horrific events were a staple of the American LGBTQ+ experience a shockingly short time ago. Cured takes full advantage of this, finding those who lived through these events and giving them the time to share their own stories. Cured doesn't just tell stories about the pain that the LGBTQ+ community felt at this time but brings it to life. It is impossible not to be utterly destroyed emotionally as one hears someone give their honest truth when it comes to the fear and pain they suffered being gay during this time. It wasn't just about avoiding judgment, it was about staying alive. To come out as gay meant that you had a mental illness, which often would not just result in leaving one's life behind but also being exposed to glorified physical torture.
Where this on its own is painful, it is the mental torment of this time that puts the haunting effect of the film onto another level. Where under a 2020 context it is clear that science was wrong and has since admitted the faults of their thinking regarding sexual identity, gay individuals of the time didn't have this luxury. In a nuanced perspective, which could only be achieved by having the sit down interviews that the film conducts, Cured exposes a generation that bought into science and trusted officials saying that something inside of them was wrong, leading to levels of self hatred and suffering that is hard to put into words. To go against these beliefs was to go not just against homophobic groups, but to go against science itself, which in practice is built on facts and truth. This honest and genuine pain that is being expressed throughout the documentary will stick with audiences of any background and easily is the best part of the documentary despite being so uncomfortably hard to sit through at times.
Yet it is in this pain and suffering that the film finds a light. Cured contains one of the most inspiring representations of the gay liberation movement, capturing the true weight of the movements actions better than nearly any other piece of cinema. This emotional rollercoaster will genuinely captivate and move audiences, giving not just a light to the overwhelming suffering pain caused by society, but also the power of the community and the fight to overcome these forces. Finding a wider release in 2021, Cured is absolutely a film to keep an eye out for and will go down as one of the most moving and powerful representations of LGBTQ+ history in recent memory.
