"I used to look at the marriage movement and say, 'Are these people crazy? It's just not going to happen in my lifetime.' But there's nothing like sitting across from a legislator who tells you, 'I think marriage is between a man and a woman. I'm married, I don't think you should be.' Nothing like that moment to turn you into a person who wants to get married." - Amy Hunt, Massachusetts gay-marriage activist in Saving Marriage.

"If they want to live together, fine! If they want to get benefits, I don't have a problem with that. It's just the word marriage, it was never meant for the same-sex people!" - Tom Dreher, gay-marriage opponent.

"I'm not saying I approve, but the Red Sox just won the World Series! Life as we know it is changing, and you gotta change with the times." - Female Red Sox fan.

If, despite some optimistic polls, you're a little apprehensive about the fight to save same-sex marriage in California, a superbly crafted new documentary opening at the Roxie provides some lessons on how queer folks can prevail when our rights are put to a vote. Mike Roth and John Henning's exploration of the Massachusetts marriage battle Saving Marriage zeros in on an action-packed two-year chapter involving a titanic grass roots campaign to block an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state's Constitution.

Drawing on an array of religious fanatics, machine politicians, same-sex brides and grooms, and even a few drunken baseball fans, Roth and Henning keep us watching by reworking a few Hollywood narrative tricks. 

"All you had to do was Google Massachusetts gay marriage, and you knew it ultimately became legal. We wanted the audience to go through the same rollercoaster ride we went through as filmmakers. The big inspirational movie for us was actually Apollo 13: you know they're going to survive, but you're on the edge of your seat the whole time."

Roth and Henning focus on the efforts of five activists to reverse centuries of encrusted feelings in the place where they once burned witches: veteran lobbyist Arline Isaacson recalls her childhood hero, a teacher who survived the Holocaust to underline the real bottom line to American civic life; Becky and Kat are social-worker partners whose road to marriage includes a momentous exchange of rings; Marc Solomon is a former conservative staff aide who spearheads the attempt to defeat anti-marriage House members; Carl Sciortino is a 25-year-old healthcare worker who makes himself the poster boy for change in a statehouse campaign that gets viciously personal. At the final victory party, he ignored advice not to be caught hugging a man for the front page of the Boston Globe.

Saving Marriage conveys a sense that the social fabric is changing before our eyes. Henning feels that "young gay men need to see images of themselves in committed relationships. A lot  of married couples are people who have been together for years, but for us the real groundbreaking thing about marriage is that people in their 20s and 30s will start thinking about their lives in a long-term sense."

When the gay marriage-affirming bombshell from the state Supreme Court set off a furious repeal movement by the political right, Henning and Roth had to scramble to cover a spontaneous happening, counting on the sight of Roth's big Beta camera to intimidate officials into granting them access to the circus. "With the people in the pro-marriage movement, they were worried that we might be spies. We tried to get in on their early organizing meetings, and they wouldn't let us. It's so funny, because by the time the campaign was in full gear, we were best friends with all the pro-marriage people."

Roth admits his TV background conditioned him to be extra-aggressive in grabbing shots of history in the making. He's especially proud of his wide-angle lens shot of a pro-marriage crowd lifting their candles aloft in the lobby of the Statehouse. As the clock struck Midnight, eager couples filed in to get their crack at the freshly-minted licenses. "I'm not that tall, so I had to hold my camera over my head just as the first couple held up their marriage license and the crowd started cheering."

And then there's partying with Red Sox Nation. "Talking to a bunch of drunk Red Sox fans after their team has just won the World Series took a little bit of doing. We'd throw them a sports question, then their choice for president, then gay marriage. The Red Sox were much more important to people in Boston than whether gay people could get married."

Saving Marriage is a deft political suspense story that provides an inspiring portrait of a new generation for whom marriage becomes a surprising vehicle for empowerment and self-respect.