Stonewall

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11/15/2019 In the early morning hours of 28 June 1969 in front of the New York bar Stonewall there was a violent confrontation between police and a large number of gays, lesbians, transvestites… This movie follows a young gay who just arrived in town, several drag queens who are regulars in Stonewall and a group of gay activists in the days preceding the riot. Stonewall was a gay bar in Greenwich Village where the poorest people from the gay community used to go – transvestites, homeless gay youth, male prostitutes, and others from the margin. At the same time it was the only gay bar in New York where dancing was allowed. In this period, little was allowed to gays in USA: in the years immediately after the Second World War, thousands of people lost their jobs in the military and government for suspicion of being gay. During the 1950s and 1960s, the FBI kept lists of homosexuals, and the American Psychiatric Association regarded homosexuality as a "sociopathic personality disorder" and "treated" it through the administration of electroshocks. Police made constant raids on gay bars, the customers were arrested, their pictures published in the newspapers. This period also witnessed a rise of progressive and liberation movements which marked the 1960s, and it was only a question of when this enormous suffering, discontent and discrimination of the gay community will spill over into the fight for equal rights. When during a police raid on the Stonewall, gays spontaneously confronted the police, this sparked large riots and later the formation of activist organizations, first in New York and then in many other cities. A year later, on 28 June 1970, in memory of these events the first Gay Pride ever was organized in the New York City. Based on actual events. See more 08/24/2012 loved it a lot - hey, it's just one story from at time that should not be forgotten. See more 03/14/2012 This film should be a lot better. It's good, but it should me brilliant. It's talking of the most important time in gay history, and really doesn't do itself justice. See more 11/27/2011 Cute men, fine drag, important history. Good movie. See more 10/08/2010 Nigel Finch's 1996 fictionalization of the Uprising is a celebration of the mythology of the events. Employing just about the most ridiculously clichéd narrative imaginable - a corn-fed Iowa hunk moves to the big city with stars in his eyes, is shown the ropes by a click of fabulous Greenwich Village drag queens, falls into a relationship with a conflicted prostitute named La Miranda, and then they all participate in the riotous events of June, 1969 - Finch's film is not trying too hard for verisimilitude. See more 04/19/2010 (from The Watermark 11/23/96) A semi-fictional story about the famous 1969 riots which helped begin the modern gay movement, Stonewall is both thought-provoking and entertaining. A young gay midwesterner moves to Greenwich Village to be free to express his sexuality. But all he finds is a plethora of gay clubs that are constantly terrorized and raided by the police. He becomes romantically involved with a drag queen, and joins a political committee which is forming to promote equal rights for homosexuals. The organization has strict rules about conservative appearance and visibility which make him feel he must turn away from his bangled boyfriend if he wants to pursue The Cause. It is a familiar love story that puts a nice personal spin on an important piece of our history. It then adds a cute dimension of fun by punctuating the plot points with drag queens lip-synching obscure 1960's girl tunes. Not only does it stand as dramatic documentation of how far our movement has come, Stonewall is also an eye-opening reminder of how much farther we need to go, and how we will never achieve our goals without unifying our own community. See more Read all reviews

Stonewall

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