"Mission to Matrimony: A Gay Marriage Proposal" is an engaging portrayal of the journey of homosexual couples in the United States thus far in their fight for the right to marry.
Test screened to an almost-full List 120 last night, the documentary was produced by Noah Pohl '07, his brother Matthew - a senior at Tufts University - and award-winning documentary filmmaker Jerri Sher. All three were present at the screening.
Sher was quick to say the film was still very much "a rough cut in the works" and the team was hoping to receive feedback and comments from those present so they could improve on it. Comment cards were distributed to the audience at the front door.
In a solemn moment before "Mission to Matrimony" was shown, a visibly affected Matthew Pohl dedicated the film to Wanda Alston, his mentor from his summer internship with the City of Washington, D.C., in 2003. Alston, the head of the city's office of lesbian and gay issues, was murdered Wednesday in her home.
Touted as not promoting a specific agenda, "Mission to Matrimony" makes a commendable effort to present a balanced representation of the gay marriage controversy. The documentary starts with footage of the events of May 17, 2004, in what Noah Pohl described as "the most amazingly human drama I have ever seen in my life."
The looks of pure joy on gay couples' faces as they were granted marriage licenses outside the city hall in Cambridge, Mass., were juxtaposed sharply against the hate-filled words and banners carried there by picketers from Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan.
Split into different sections to address the various issues surrounding gay marriage, such as "What's the Fear?", "What is Marriage?", "What About God?" and "Politics," the filmmakers achieved their purpose of making the audience think for themselves about where they stood on the subject.
The Pohls and Sher conducted numerous interviews with politicians, religious leaders and same-sex couples with children in order to evaluate and define the meaning of marriage, love and relationships. Screen time was also dedicated to analyzing the root of the fear that seemed to pervade the anti-gay-marriage camp.
"Education and awareness are two of our main goals," Noah said.
The film effectively portrayed some aspects of the debate which have been overlooked in the public debate. Two of the interviewees had lost their longtime partners on Sept. 11, 2001, but their compensation and social security benefits were awarded to their deceased partners' families, who had disowned them and did not even attend their memorial services.
The extremity of opinions from the anti-gay-marriage camp, and the lack of moderate opinions regarding the issue, was where "Mission to Matrimony" failed to achieve its stated purpose of being impartial.
The normalcy of the lives that homosexual couples led in the film - they regaled the audience with stories about falling in love, having and raising children, fitting into their neighborhoods - effectively humanized them and dehumanized those against gay marriage because the latter were frequently portrayed as unreasonable, bigoted and extremist. It might have been more productive to examine the concerns of the many heterosexual - and even homosexual - couples in America who are on the fence regarding gay marriage.
Still, the film was well received by the audience - attendees applauded long and hard when the credits rolled. Michael Morgenstern '08 was moved to tears at points. "It was incredible," he said.
David Guttmann '07 was impressed by how well the filmmakers managed to ground the film in reality, citing the example of homosexual partners not having the right to Social Security benefits in the event of their partner's deaths, or how a gay woman was not allowed into the delivery room to see her partner give birth to their child.
The filmmakers fielded questions from the audience and acknowledged that there were still a good "two to three months of hard work" to go before the final product was ready. They have plans to submit it to film festivals as well as pitch it to network television.
In this controversial, constantly evolving debate on gay marriage in which both sides are fuelled by so much passion, it is almost impossible to present an unbiased representation of events and opinions. Yet, the Pohl brothers and Sher make a laudable effort to present them as rationally as possible. With more editing and fine-tuning, "Mission to Matrimony" has an undeniable potential to become an influential and powerful documentary.
