Following the story of a small American town confronting a firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement in the local newspaper, this gripping documentary illustrates the challenges of being an outsider in a conservative rural community and the change that is possible when courageous people break the silence and search for common ground. Out in the Silence will challenge you to rethink your values and help close the gaps that divide our communities.
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April 11, 2008
#1
I grew up in the mountains of western Pennsylvania in a place similar to the setting of this documentary. In the late 1970′s and 1980′s it was unheard of for anyone in my school to “come out.” I doubt I would have known what that meant. This documentary beautifully reveals the pain experienced by gays trying to cope with life in small town America. The pacing is effortless. The intimate way the camera reveals the main characters lives illustrates the power of documentary to inspire empathy for “the other.” The fascinating curveball in Oil City is the local American Family Association chapter, which is unusual but serves as a convenient metaphor for larger forces in the nation. I wish I could have seen a film like this when I was a teenager. I was most impressed by the gradual shift in the attitude of Evangelical Pastor Mark Micklos. Though all is not well in small town America, this work shows that progress is possible. Everyone who lives in rural areas and in small cities should watch this DVD.
April 11, 2008
#2
This powerful film does what the best social-issue films do: it takes a specific local story, and while presenting it in a fully-rounded, deep, and elegant way, it also illuminates a larger issue, provoking questions that will resonate with audiences of all kinds and in all places. This is a well-made film, illuminating the story of gay and lesbian people grappling with the realities of overyday life in their conservative rural community. Its fluid storytelling, high production values, and compelling characters pulled me in from the opening moments, and engaged me to the very end. It’s poignant, powerful, acessible, shows both sides of the issue, and is surprisingly humorous. I highly recommend it.
April 11, 2008
#3
“Out in the Silence”
Oil City, Pennsylvania
Amos Lassen
Occasionally I will see a film that is a total experience and that moves me completely. “Out in the Silence” is such a film. When Joe Wilson married his lover, Dean Hamer, they put a wedding announcement in Joe’s hometown newspaper. Joe had been raised in Oil City, Pennsylvania, a small town that he had left long. When he received a letter from a resident of his hometown, a mother of a gay ten who was being mentally tortured, he decided to go back home and document what he found. The result is this beautiful film, a look at love, hate and understanding in small-town America.
Oil City is a town that had once had industry, a town that the rest of the world has passed by. It was a peaceful, quiet place until Joe Wilson put his wedding announcement in the local paper. Kathy Springer (among many others) saw it and wrote to Joe about how her son CJ was being treated at school simply because he was gay. School authorities looked the other way and Susan having nowhere to turn asked Joe for help. The two soon became fast friends and with Joe’s help, things began to change.
Diane Gramley, the head of the local American Family Association, a very conservative pressure group also saw the announcement but she saw it as an omen that the “homosexual agenda” was coming to town. She used the announcement as an opportunity to get the people of Oil City to say no to same-sex marriage and to homosexuality in general.
Joe Wilson then once again becomes part of his hometown as he looks at the cost of being different in small-town America. He meets a lesbian couple and he helps them renovate an old theater that could change the economy of the town and he becomes friendly with an evangelical pastor and we see how understanding happens. The pastor’s wife so says that we are afraid of what we do not know, something I have always felt and with knowledge comes understanding and in many cases, acceptance.
An interesting aspect of the film to me especially was the use of the American Family Association’s totally erroneous film, “They’re Coming to Your Town” as an example of what gay people can do to a town. It is all harmful and so untrue.
Joe Wilson used his camera in a unique way and this is not just a documentary. The film troubles the viewer as well as comforts him. This is a fascinating and moving look at what it is like to be gay in America and it is to be embraced and applauded. Quite simply, it is beautiful.
April 11, 2008
#4
I was lucky enough to catch an advance preview of this documentary, and sincerely hope it will be seen by as many groups and individuals as possible. As somebody very familiar with a similar community in Pennsylvania, I found the film an important window into small town America’s slowly changing outlook on homosexuality and tolerance. While the filmmakers are open and upfront about their own point of view, they provide a nuanced, compassionate portrait of the residents of Oil City Pennsylvania. A very human story that will serve as a useful tool in promoting discussion and understanding among different people.
April 11, 2008
#5
This film reminds me of an Agnes Varda documentary: you start out thinking it’s about one thing, but it turns into quite another.
The story begins when the filmmaker runs an announcement of his marriage to another man in his hometown newspaper in the small, conservative town of Oil City, PA. Not surprisingly there is quite a backlash, especially from the head of a local right-wing fundamentalist group. But instead of spending the next hour on the pros and cons of same-sex marriage, the filmmaker begins to explore what it’s like to be gay or lesbian in a rural community.
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Soon, the film evolves into a completely different set of interrelated stories about a gay youth who is being tormented at the oil City High School and his brave mom, two women who are trying to build a business, and a fundamentalist preacher who has second thoughts about the consequenceses of his religious pronouncements. Each character is wonderful in their own way, but I especially liked the mother, Kathy, who is like a lioness fighting for her cubs.
Despite the serious subject matter, the documentary has plenty of joy and humor. I was fortunate to watch a preview screening in my home town with a supportive audience, and they were alternately crying, laughing and cheering.
This is the best documentary I’ve watched in a long time. The real beauty is that it’s not just for the already enlightened. Nobody with a heart could watch this film and not be deeply moved.