Trinidad

Here is another very worth-to-watch documentary that not only looks and feels like narrative but also will grab your attention immediately as this is the most “normal” (not even one second of sensationalism) transgender document I have ever seen.

I hope you can understand that what I’m about to say is said in the most respectful way, as not often (if ever) you can see ordinary middle age men that are transitioning or had the op. Most docs document the perhaps more colorful world of very queer man becoming female and I understand that in a so diverse community there are many diverse people with diverse attitudes toward life, sexuality and gender. But this documentary was really mesmerizing (for me) as it looks and feels so ordinary and common that I couldn’t take my eyes from the screen and I wanted more when was over. The documentary really motivated me to see transgender/transsexuals not as “oddities” but as real people that solve a real problem and become ordinary people that finally get a more happy life and more than less integrate into that particular and so special community established in Trinidad, Colorado.

The doc tells about Dr. Stanley Biber who pioneered the sex change operation and since his passing in 2006, one of his patients, Dr. Marci Bowens, took charge at the local hospital where the operations now actually pay for the rest of the hospital services.

The doc has been called an “elegant history of the sex change capital of the world” and the description really fits the debut of Jay Hodges and P. J. Raval as directors of an oeuvre that gives us a very compelling, normal, ordinary, realistic and yet, dramatic opportunity to understand better what gender reassignment means to those that do it and according to what some say, there have been around 5,800 gender reassignment surgeries done in Trinidad.

Whether you are or you are not interested in the theme, this is one document that I suggest as Must Be Seen to many that read this blog. Here I reproduce some words from the filmmakers that I find to be relevant to motivate everyone to watch this film. If you feel like reading the complete article go here.

Ultimately, we hope Trinidad helps viewers see beyond surface differences to the deeper elements of who we are as individuals. As Sabrina so eloquently states, "When people look at me, I hope they think, ‘If she has the guts to be who she is, then I should have the guts to be who I am.'" The experience of making Trinidad has certainly taught us that.

Great documentary!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion But be aware that unfortunately the trailer is not good, as presents the doc similar to many other “before/after” documents when is NOT like that at all.