Imagine you were left handed.
Though it is not very common but there is nothing really harmful about it. You
are not causing any physical on mental problems for the people in your life. It
could be family, friends or acquaintances. Then you realize that it is forbidden
because your religion doesn’t approve of it. Not just disapprove, but declares you
abnormal and tags you as the devil. You and your parents are called sinners and
as people who are against God. But for you it is a very natural thing. Being
left handed is a natural as breathing and walking. Under your family’s pressure
you have to go through conversion therapy where you are addressed as someone
who is a sinner and a criminal. You are psychologically brainwashed and treated
differently when you don’t exactly know what’s wrong with you.
Boy erased is a real story about
a gay teenager who had to suffer Conversion therapy. This is an intense film and psychologically
testing. It is a brilliant portrayal of a normal young adult become a victim of
prejudice and religious bigotry. Gerrard Conley suffers conversion therapy
which is the most inhuman and the gravest tortures anyone can go through. It is
worse than Nazi concentration camps because the victim’s own family force the
victims to go through it. In this film one can experience the psychological and
emotional trauma the victims have to go through in an extremely hostile set up
where every move of the individual is judged and examined with disdain and
hatred. A person’s self-worth and self-respect are completely destroyed forcing
him/her into an abyss of depression and negativity. There is no escape for him/her
because he is dependent on his family and the only way for him to survive is to
obey them.
I felt suffocated several times
in this film. There came a point where I could not handle it anymore and was on
the verge of walking out. To be able to create and communicate the severity of
the issue is extraordinary and laudable. To be able to do complete justice and
portray the depth of the hostility that the Christian faith has against the
LGBT community is a great achievement. Lucas Hedges has nailed the character
and acts out Gerrards feeling and mental state perfectly. Joel Edgerton has
done great service to the community and mankind as a whole by making a film
that exposes the torture that 77,000 Americans, who have gone through the Conversion
Therapy. Many still do as most states in the US still allow it.
Rating – 4.5 / 5
