I first attempted to watch this when I was around 15, or so... It was on Channel Four, in the early hours of the morning, and I had school the next day...
Even at that age, I was smart enough not to be transphobic, but I still turned it off after the big 'reveal'. Despite my tired state, it still felt really out of context, and as though it had been placed there to shock, rather than to be explored properly, within the terms of the story...
I always told myself that eventually I'd come back and rewatch it in full though, when I was less tired and hopefully more mature, to see if I still felt the same way. Well, last night was that night. Although I was still tired, I watched it all the way through this time... and unfortunately, the impression I got halfway through the film remains pretty much unaltered.
It still feels like a stunt put there to exploit a transgender person's pain, in order to aid a cis guy's 'redemption' (remember that I felt this way when I was 15, and SJW's weren't a 'thing', then - so I don't think I'm being overly sensitive!). Dil is just a cipher, employed to reinforce stereotypical notions of masculinity.
It also doesn't help that in the first half of the film, Forest Whitaker's performance is uncharacteristically awful. A more obvious example of miscasting, it would be hard to find - and it's incredibly jarring to the aura of grit and realism that the film otherwise works so hard to establish.
Even at that age, I was smart enough not to be transphobic, but I still turned it off after the big 'reveal'. Despite my tired state, it still felt really out of context, and as though it had been placed there to shock, rather than to be explored properly, within the terms of the story...
I always told myself that eventually I'd come back and rewatch it in full though, when I was less tired and hopefully more mature, to see if I still felt the same way. Well, last night was that night. Although I was still tired, I watched it all the way through this time... and unfortunately, the impression I got halfway through the film remains pretty much unaltered.
It still feels like a stunt put there to exploit a transgender person's pain, in order to aid a cis guy's 'redemption' (remember that I felt this way when I was 15, and SJW's weren't a 'thing', then - so I don't think I'm being overly sensitive!). Dil is just a cipher, employed to reinforce stereotypical notions of masculinity.
It also doesn't help that in the first half of the film, Forest Whitaker's performance is uncharacteristically awful. A more obvious example of miscasting, it would be hard to find - and it's incredibly jarring to the aura of grit and realism that the film otherwise works so hard to establish.