The sweeping saga encompassing decades has largely fallen by the wayside in mainstream films, relegated to television miniseries. But there's something thrilling about taking a two- or three-hour journey in a historical adventure so you can relive the recent past through the characters' experiences.
Neil Armfield's "Holding the Man" from Australia is such a film, a breakout hit at this year's Frameline now out on DVD from Strand Releasing. The movie follows the true 15-year love story of two high school boys from the mid-1970s to the early '90s. It's based on Tim Conigrave's bestselling memoir published in 1995. He finished it on his deathbed in St. Vincent's Hospital in 1994, dying of AIDS 10 days later. It was adapted by Tommy Murphy (also the screenwriter) for a stage play in Sydney in 2006, with productions in London's West End and San Francisco.
Tim (Ryan Corr) and John Caleo's (Craig Stott) romance began at age 16 at a Jesuit Catholic High School, Xavier College, in Melbourne. Tim is rehearsing for his role as Romeo in the play "Romeo and Juliet" and can't seem to elicit any real emotion over Juliet's corpse, with his teacher remarking, "You've lost your fiance, not your bus pass." Then he sees John, the captain of the AFL soccer/football team, practicing, and is immediately smitten, imagining him on the slab rather than the girl, and acting passionately. Later John wakes up in a hospital after suffering a concussion from a collision on the soccer field. Tim, whom he doesn't really know, pays him a friendly visit, with outgoing, flamboyant Tim attracted to quiet, down-to-earth John.
John's parents are initially grateful to Tim for drawing John out of his shell, but then John's father (a convincing Anthony LaPaglia) finds Tim's love letter to John. He forbids John from seeing Tim, threatening him with legal action. Tim's father (Guy Pearce) is a bit more understanding, but not excited about having a gay son. Meanwhile at school, their classmates vary in their reactions to the relationship. Though that same letter discovered in school gets them into trouble, a Jesuit brother-schoolmaster is accepting. Tim and John are adamant about staying together and defy their parents, kissing through a screen window when kept apart. Tim later asks John to marry him, when such a possibility was only a fantasy.
They go to college. Tim studies drama at the National Institute of Drama, encountering a teacher (Geoffrey Rush) who remarks, "There is not a lot of work for effeminate monkeys." John studies to be a chiropractor. They will be involved in the early gay rights movement. Tim suggests a trial separation so they can have sex with other guys and experiment with multiple partners. Eventually they get back together in Sydney, only to discover they are both HIV+, with the adventuresome Tim wondering if he infected John. How Tim and John cope through this illness, with Tim finishing his memoir on the Italian island Lipari, will cap the conclusion of this heartbreaking movie.
"Holding the Man" is a grand romance, covering a period that gay men over 45 know from their own memories. It's well-recalled through the music of the period, featuring Bronski Beat, Blondie, and Bryan Ferry. The sexual scenes are raw and honest, especially for Australia. While both moving and passionate, the picture does have flaws. Tim and John's relationship seems to encounter little opposition outside their families, which seems unrealistic considering the conservative Australian culture of the 1970s and '80s. While Tim is vividly drawn as a character (it's his autobiography), John seems underdeveloped. Both actors are superb in their performances, gelling together beautifully, but in their 20s they are clearly too old to play teenagers. Finally, probably betraying its theatrical origins, the dialogue sometimes has a stilted quality, as if the actors were reading their lines from a play. The back-and-forth chronology announcing date changes by cards is tiresome.
Yet there is much to love in this intimate movie. The title, referring to an Australian football rule forbidding tackling an opponent who is not carrying the ball, is a double entendre for a social transgression, here falling in love with another man, that incurs a penalty. "Holding the Man" reminds us that the extraordinary time of freedom we are experiencing now came with sacrifice and grace under pressure.