Paying the Price

To the Editors of The Crimson:

The merits of Tom Joslin's film Black Star, as film technique, I'm not qualified to discuss, but as a ticket-buyer and viewer I feel the Crimson review slighted a brave and entertaining movie.

The reviewer apparently expected a movie version of a gay pride rally, with a hot bedroom scene thrown in for it to qualify as a "strong gay liberation statement."

The film is more than that. It is an "autobiography" covering, at length, Joslin's family, the present and the past. The bored critic felt this was all "self-indulgence." But as a gay man I know the tribute exacted by so many people for this kind of honesty. It takes a brave person to face it and pay it, be it in the form of Mrs. Joslin's dislike of Tom's lover, his father's embarrassment, fag-baiting, physical abuse, or the activities and hatred of Anita Bryant. Unlike the critic of December 2, the audience of December 3 realized this was the point: Tom Joslin was willing to pay the price for dignity and integrity. That is a very strong statement of gay liberation. And it is especially heartening for men who love men to know that there are brothers out there and that the killers of other men haven't enlisted everyone. Michael O'Connor