When We Rise
- Director: Gus Van Sant et al.
- Writer: Dustin Lance Black et al.
- Producer: Ted Babcock; Tim Iacofano
CGiii Comment
Curiouser and curiouser....
It would seem that the LGBT media have ignored this recent offering from the stable of Dustin Lance Black...and, being directed by such luminaries as Gus Van Sant, Dee Rees & Thomas Schlamme...indeed, it is a curious situation!
So...we asked ourselves why...and, the answer isn't too pretty!
Roland Emmerich's Stonewall received a solid bashing for 'whitewashing' an event that was largely undocumented and - through the mists of time - has given rise to many hazy and clashing testimonies...aah, uncertainty...the necessary ingredient legends are made of...
The same cannot be said for this history...Cleve Jones is alive and vocal. This is a version of his version of events...this is his subjective history objectified...and, let's face it, all history starts off subjective...until the writers and historians start messing about with the facts. Ever read a book, then watched the film that was based on that book...ever watched a film that was based on true events?!? Jesus Christ...himself, has made a small fortune out of 'bending' the facts!
Stonewall gave rise to some [young] prissy, publicity-hungry, media-savvy, armchair activists - born decades after the event...they vented hatred, caused quite a commotion, cried 'boycott'...quite ridiculously...for a film made by a gay man about a [fictional] gay man based on 'true' events...babies, it's only a bloody film - no need to get your knickers in such a twist! Well...When We Rise shuts those twisted-knickered voices down...with one line!
Ouch!
Remember...Cleve Jones is alive, well and vocal. Those most vocal @ Stonewall are dead! Their silences have been broken by vicarious voices...just like historians do...they re-write rewritten histories...not for the greater good...but, for plaudits and publicity.
Episode 1...
A strong start...three concurrent stories unfurl in San Francisco as the Vietnam war comes to a close. An idealistic feminist accepting her sexuality, a young man fleeing conversion therapy and a black, gay sailor battling grief and religion...disparate lives united by the need for equality...
The 'legend' that Stonewall has become gets a bashing...from someone who was there! Interesting to say the least...it seems that this might not become an exercise in gay propaganda...but, an account of an elderly [gay] man who was part of 'paving the way' to where we are now...and, a timely reminder to the youth of today...we fought hard to get us to here...where we are today. Respect is - duly - due!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
The series is certainly ambitious, as it ‘chronicles the personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBT men and women who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. Civil Rights movement from its turbulent infancy in the 20th century to the once unfathomable successes of today.’
Pearce will star as LGBT activist Cleve Jones, who joined the gay liberation movement in 1972 and was befriended by pioneer gay rights leader Harvey Milk. He founded the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and led the National March for Equality in 2009. Parker will play women’s rights leader Roma Guy, who co-founded the San Francisco Women’s Building, and as a public health commissioner worked with others to bring healthcare access to all San Franciscans. Griffiths will play her wife, social justice activist Diane, who joined the Women’s Movement in the 1970s in San Francisco, co-founded the Women’s Building and has worked as an HIV/AIDS nurse and social justice activist at San Francisco General Hospital for 33 years.’
Born in 1954, Cleve Jones was among the last generation of gay Americans who grew up wondering if there were others out there like himself. There were. Like thousands of other young people, Jones, nearly penniless, was drawn in the early 1970s to San Francisco, a city electrified by progressive politics and sexual freedom. Jones found community--in the hotel rooms and ramshackle apartments shared by other young adventurers, in the city''s bathhouses and gay bars like The Stud, and in the burgeoning gay district, the Castro, where a New York transplant named Harvey Milk set up a camera shop, began shouting through his bullhorn, and soon became the nation''s most outspoken gay elected official. With Milk's encouragement, Jones dove into politics and found his calling in "the movement." When Milk was killed by an assassin''s bullet in 1978, Jones took up his mentor''s progressive mantle--only to see the arrival of AIDS transform his life once again.
Cast & Characters
Guy Pearce as Cleve Jones;
Mary-Louise Parker as Roma Guy;
Rachel Griffiths as Diane;
Michael Kenneth Williams as Ken Jones;
Carrie Preston as Sally Gearhart;
Ivory Aquino as Cecilia Chung;
Austin P. McKenzie as Young Cleve Jones;
Jonathan Majors as Young Ken Jones;
Emily Skeggs as Young Roma Guy;
Douglas Smith as Young Man