A father from Oregon makes it a mission to walk to New York and preach along the way against bullying after his teenage son gets tortured for being gay.
Mixed feelings throughout all three acts. Right off the bat, from the first flashbacks, the first impression is that a working-class dad who surprisingly supports his son for being gay does not support him enough to have him parade it in his front yard. Therefore, my question was: his problem was showing it off? Then, I thought to myself that it is biographical, so if this is how it was, this is how it was. Then, I got a different problem. As the story develops, I thought that it doesn’t let you think for yourself at all; it spoon-feeds you the message all the way through. It forces you to side with Jadin by telling you – not showing you – who the “bad” guy is and who the “good” guy is in a black-or-white manner. Then, there is another “then”: Jadin accusing Joe of not being supportive enough, and Joe accusing Jadin of not handling it (in the present era) creates a vague grey area in the film’s otherwise “black or white” scheme for the supportive people but questions their level of support. Here’s my two cents in general…
People, and more specifically bullies, need to feel what it is like to be bullied without being bullied, hated or criticised for thinking and acting the way they do. They need to understand that, to other people, they are as different as the people they pick on. I did some research and this is what the real Joe Bell tried to do. He was non-violently preaching against it because his son faced the consequences, and he wanted, to his best abilities, to make the world a better place. A friendly for all of us place so no one has to suffer what his son did, and, consequently, any other boy, girl, man, woman, or non-binary person out there.
However, Mark Wahlberg as Joe Bell, the late Larry McMurtry (RIP) and Diana Ossana’s script, and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s directing do not reflect that. Joe Bell does not know where to focus and massively holds back on the emotions it means to evoke. Take, for example, when his mother, Lola (Connie Britton), finds out. This should have been the moment where the toughest one breaks. And one wonders, how can this be with so many A-list names wearing the producer’s hat: Mark Wahlberg, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, and 17 more…
To cut a long story short, Joe Bell makes it more about Joe Bell rather than his incredibly noble and courageous mission. Ironically, he says it himself to the sheriff while opening up. And he keeps doing it. Shame really as if it wasn’t for this film I, and potentially hundreds of thousands of others, wouldn’t have known about this mission. But the real shame is that his mission’s message doesn’t really permeate. It does not sink in; therefore, there is nothing much to take away from it. And the Bell family’s story is absolutely f@£$!^% tragic!
I really do hope each of us finds an honourable way to make this world feel like… home. For everyone!
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Solidarity for all the innocent lives who suffer the atrocities of war!
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