“The Wound” is a conscientious first feature from South African director John Trengove that is based around a male initiation ritual in the Xhosa culture called “ukwaluka,” which begins with circumcision and then moves on to an endurance test in the wilderness. This movie sensitively attempts to tell a story that becomes a kind of love triangle set against a milieu that will be unfamiliar to most Western viewers.
The first image in “The Wound” is a waterfall, and there is no sound initially until we hear the rushing of the water down into the river below. The credits play against underwater noises — as if we have fallen into the river — and when the credits are over this sound blends into the motor of a cart in a warehouse where Xolani (Nakhane Touré) works. The careful sound design in this opening will have gently symbolic implications later on.
The father of a boy named Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini) tells Xolani that his son is too soft and needs to be toughened up. Touré, who is a singer, has the kind of guarded yet helplessly present face that the camera loves, and it is clear as we watch his reactions that Xolani is conflicted about what this man is asking him to do.
Trengove films the circumcision ceremony in a discreet way, so that it’s hard to tell just what has happened until the characters reference it in dialogue later on. We see Xolani walking to a secluded building with another chaperone of the young boys named Vija (Bongile Mantsai), and Trengove films them in a doorway frame as they secretly have sex with each other.
This sex scene captures the closeness between these men, the pleasure they steal, and also their isolation from each other. Vija is married and wears a cross around his neck. He has been friends with Xolani for a long time and seems to have placed him into a compartment in his life where Xolani can be taken out and used for sex occasionally. But Xolani’s feelings go much deeper than that.
The writing in “The Wound” can be conventional and overly explanatory, but this doesn’t matter because the subject is so fresh. Trengove isn’t afraid to make Xolani unlikable; there is a scene where Xolani lays a heavy guilt trip on Vija that feels psychologically acute. Xolani says that he has stayed in a job he doesn’t like just to be near Vija, and there is an element of manipulation in the way that he explains this. Xolani is imprisoned by outdated social attitudes, and he has sunk so deeply into them that he has made a home there. He has learned to almost enjoy his unhappiness, which he uses as a weapon against Vija.
The younger Kwanda is clearly from a different generation and less self-conscious about his sexuality than Xolani and Vija. He is going through with the initiation ceremony, but he is not convinced by it as these two older men are. He talks about having an iPhone, and he goes off to listen to music in his car. As a boy who comes from money, Kwanda is also from a different social class. He doesn’t look right with the white ashes that they are made to wear on their faces and bodies and appears strikingly beautiful only when he washes the ashes off in the river.
Kwanda stares at these older men with both curiosity and righteous judgment. He is attracted to Xolani and Vija, but he is more interested in the fact that his youth and good looks give him some power over them. Speaking of Xolani, Kwanda tells Vija, “Maybe he wants me all to himself.” Kwanda can’t resist goading the older men and feeling superior.
The tensions in “The Wound” could imaginably resolve themselves in a pleasing bout of very hot and satisfying three-way sex between the main characters, but when the film reaches its climax it feels both unexpected and inevitable, like all good endings.
This is a movie that offers a glimpse into a seldom-seen world, and it is also a character study that looks deeply into the behavior of three very different men who might have loved each other under different circumstances.
These 13 Movies Were Rated the Most Damaging to LGBT People in 2016 (Photos)
From perpetuating stereotypes to using violence against queer people as a plot device or straight-up refusing to clarify the orientation of meaningful LGBT characters in film, these portraits were considered the most damaging or ineffective from any major Hollywood film in 2016. [Source: GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index]
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"Deadpool" (Fox) This irreverent superhero was impossible to deny in any way -- except, of course, if you count how the film denied its own promise to feature a "pansexual" Deadpool. Director Tim Miller said he was intent to show the potty-mouthed hero as one not limited in his choice of sexual preference, but it never manifested on the screen.
There was also plenty of conversation about a scene where Reynolds' Wade Wilson is "pegged" (penetrated with a strap-on by his scene partner Morena Baccarin) but "the scene was played as a joke and as a painful moment that Wade himself was not actually wanting to engage in other than as a favor to his lover."
20th Century Fox
"Demolition" (Lionsgate) This Jake Gyllenhaal indie sees the actor befriend a young closeted gay man, whom he advises to remain in the closet until he can move to a bigger, more accepting city. The boy ignores this advice and attends a local gay bar, where he is jumped by a group of straight men. The gay character "never seemed to be actually uncomfortable with himself to begin with, [so] it is disheartening that the film decided to use this kind of violence as a plot device."
Lionsgate
"Zoolander 2" (Paramount) Where to begin with this sequel 15 years in the making, but one GLAAD called "incredibly dated in both story and its attempted humor."
That's a compliment compared to what comes next.
"Prior to the release of Zoolander 2, a petition was launched calling for a boycott of the film after the first trailer included Benedict Cumberbatch as a non-binary model named All. The character is a completely cartoonish portrayal of a non-binary person. [Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson] obsess over the idea of what kind of genitals All has, asking if they 'have a hot dog or a bun.'"
The study found that while "comedy can be a powerful too to hold a mirror up to society and challenge expectations, cheap jokes constructed without thought that use an already marginalized community as a punchline only reinforce ignorance and prejudice. Further, positioning an LGBTQ identity as something which is inherently absurd and worthy of mocking does real harm to actual people who experience harassment and violence on a regular basis."
Paramount
"Sausage Party" (Sony) This animated orgy from Seth Rogen might as well be disqualified given how offensive it was to all of god's creatures (and some our finest foods and beverages). GLAAD raised one point, however, about reinforcing stereotypes.
"Characters are a shallow pun based on their name, including Twink the Twinkie and the overly effeminate produce who are not actual characters so much a series of jokes based on the derogatory term 'fruit,'" they said.
Sony Pictures
"Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates" (Fox) In their quest to land plus ones, Zac Efron and Adam Devine interview many candidates -- including a man in a wig trying to pass as female.
"This very clearly furthers the dangerous cultural narrative that someone who does not look conventionally female is a joke to be laughed at, and that straight men might be 'tricked' by a woman who’s 'really a man,'" GLAAD said.
20th Century Fox
"Nocturnal Animals" (Focus) It's surprising that a film directed by a gay icon (the notoriously provocative designer Tom Ford) would get dinged by GLAAD -- but the film's two gay characters (one played by Michael Sheen, one only referenced in the history of characters played by Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal) did not pass muster.
"Though it is clear that this film takes place in a world inclusive of gay characters accepted by the protagonists, it is disappointing that their stories are centered on the straight women in their lives," the SRI said.
Focus Features
"Zootopia" (Disney) A same-sex couple lives next door to crime-fighting bunny rabbit Judy Hopps, but vagueness kills any clarity and, therefore, visibility.
"While confirmed inclusion is a step forward for children’s films, we would like to see these characters be more forthrightly defined within the film itself going forward."
Disney
"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (Warner Bros.) The film got points for cameos from out journalists Anderson Cooper and Andrew Sullivan playing in fictionalized versions of themselves, but these do not gay characters make, the study said.
"We continually hope that future superhero films will include substantial queer characters. While more out comic book characters are making the leap from the page to television, mainstream hero films are still cutting them from the big screen."
Warner Bros
"Hail, Caesar!" (Paramount) In this Coen Brothers old-Hollywood dramedy, Channing Tatum plays an ambitious actor-dancer who sleeps with his director (Ralph Fiennes) to get ahead. It's also revealed that an established star (George Clooney) climbed the ladder the same way.
"The trope of predatory gay characters bribing or pressuring a straight man into sex is both offensive and incredibly overdone through the years," GLAAD said.
Paramount
"Dirty Grandpa" (Lionsgate) GLAAD had zero respect for this elder, calling the film "one of the more offensive lms released recently by a major studio." The crux of their issue came from an African American gay male character named Bradley, who "has no agency or story, and is only present as a punchline for Dick’s racist and anti-gay jokes."
Lionsgate
"Central Intelligence" (Warner Bros.) This film ties with "Dirty Grandpa" for top offender. The Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart (a top repeat offender in this annual survey) buddy comedy is described as "a near two-hour gay panic joke that relies on the long-running homophobic 'sissy' stereotype for most of the lm’s intended punchlines."
Warner Bros
"Suicide Squad" (Warner Bros.) GLAAD was bummed that this widely-panned film did not reference Harley Quinn's bisexuality -- explored in many of the comic books, especially a romantic relationship with fellow villainess Poison Ivy.
"If they follow the source comics, audiences can look forward to seeing some of the romantic relationship between Quinn and Ivy. This would be a huge moment for superhero films, which continue to leave out meaningful LGBTQ characters," the study said.
"While Harley Quinn is bisexual in the pages of many DC Comics and continually veers between her love for fellow anti-hero Poison Ivy and returning to her abusive relationship with The Joker."
Warner Bros
"Finding Dory" (Disney)
Much ado was made about two women being a same-sex couple in the animated film -- but their cameo was so fleeting and, as the study points out, director Andrew Stanton refused to confirm or deny this as true. GLAAD did not count the characters in its tally of 70 represented in mainstream films -- a big missed opportunity given the film's voice star Ellen DeGeneres is arguably the most visible lesbian in the world.
Disney
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GLAAD’s annual Studio Responsibility Index takes the major studios — and their harmful content — to task
From perpetuating stereotypes to using violence against queer people as a plot device or straight-up refusing to clarify the orientation of meaningful LGBT characters in film, these portraits were considered the most damaging or ineffective from any major Hollywood film in 2016. [Source: GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index]
Handout
20th Century Fox
