Reel Advice: Beauty, truth and tragedy

Lesbian filmmaker Pratibha Parmar directs her lens at lauded African-American writer Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and many others, for a most revealing documentary, Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth . Walker's praises are sung in interviews with a host of her contemporaries, including Sonia Sanchez, Sapphire and Jewelle Gomez, as well as actor and activist Danny Glover, Ms. Magazine publisher Gloria Steinem , music and film legends Quincy Jones and Steven Spielberg, activist Angela Y Davis, the late Howard Zinn, as well as Walker's ex-husband Melvyn R. Leventhal and her ex-partner Robert Allen, among others.

Of course, it's Walker's own words, in recent and vintage interviews that say the most. When she says that being a writer saved her life, we have no reason not to believe her. Walker experienced "venom" from her own community because people had a problem with her "disinterest in submission," her "intellect" and her "choice of lovers."

From her roots as the great-great-great-great granddaughter of a slave and the daughter of a mother who stood toe to toe with a white landowner, Walker's Southern roots and childhood informed every cell of her being. Coming of age as a college student at Spellman in the early 1960s, Walker wanted to take part in the protests, but was aware that her scholarship was at risk. Transferring to the less conservative Sarah Lawrence, she wrote poems night and day and found herself part of the emergence of a new awareness.

Incorporating the changes taking place in the South, the 1963 March on Washington and the summer of 1966 when she met her (now ex-) husband Leventhal, the doc takes us through the significant events in Walker's life leading to the publication of her first novel The Third Life of Grange Copeland, teaching jobs, the birth of daughter Rebecca, moving to New York, writing for Ms., the formation of The Sisterhood (with June Jordan, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange and others), her divorce, rediscovering Zora Neale Hurston, writing The Color Purple, receiving the Pulitzer and beyond.

Of special interest to LGBT viewers will be the way the doc addresses Walker's sexuality. As she says in the film, she loves "cuddling," and "it's very nice to have a sweetheart...I love being able to send her or him home when they need to go home." Walker says she "went off into adventures with women and loves with women and good times with women and growth with women. It was all marvelous, even the heartache" and speaks of her relationships with singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman and other women. Ultimately, Walker states she is "not a lesbian, not bisexual, just curious." [In honor of Walker's 70th birthday (Feb. 9) and Black History Month, Alice Walker: Beauty In Truth airs on Feb. 7 on PBS – check local listings for time.]

Gay porn impresario and blue-movie star Michael Lucas goes legit with his doc Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land (Breaking Glass). Lucas deserves credit for the way he and co-director Yariv Mozer narrowly avoid allowing Undressing Israel: Gay Men in the Promised Land to come off as a lengthy promotional video for Israeli tourism.

Beginning with person-on-the-street interviews and continuing with a discussion (led by Israelis), of misconceptions about Israel, Lucas' intention appears to be to separate truth from lies and to illustrate how religious and liberal people can co-exist in peace. Lucas himself (along with his pouty lips and seductive gaze) acts as tour guide. The first point of business being the legalization of homosexuality in Israel (in 1988!) and the annual event held at the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) during Pride Week. An interview with out Parliament member Nitzan Horowitz emphasizes the way that Israeli political parties (unlike some in the US and those in Lucas' native Russia) go after the "pink vote."

A segment on gays in the Israeli military, where it has been a "non-issue since 1993" features interviews with personal trainer/ex-soldier Eliad Cohen, as well as groundbreaking gay filmmaker Eytan Fox (The Bubble, Yossi), whose beloved film Yossi & Jagger centered on the relationship between two gay soldiers.

With dramatic cultural and societal changes occurring in Israel, especially since the 1990s, young LGBT Israelis have positive role models, including popular gay singer Ivri Lider. Interviews with gay parents Yossi Berg (founder/head of Rainbow Families) and gay surrogacy advocates Itai Pinkas and Yoav Arad highlight the 80% growth in gay parenting in Israel in the last decade, and features a visit to the Tel Aviv-Jaffa LGBT City Center.

Tel Aviv, which has become something a hub for the LGBT community, is given its due in Pride Parade footage, emphasizing the international array of attendees. The legendary nightlife in the open-minded, late-night city of Tel Aviv also shines and glitters and throbs in the doc.

Lucas and Mozer wisely included a visit to Jaffa, "an Arab part of Tel Aviv." It is here that one of the film's most revealing interviews takes place when Lucas speaks with Khader Abu-Seif, a gay Arab journalist at Time Out Tel Aviv. This section is followed by a series of stories focused on the experience of coming out to friends and family.

The subject of same-sex marriage in Israel, where the state grants legal recognition to couples regarding social and financial benefits and recognizes same-sex marriages performed abroad, is a fitting way to bring the doc to a close. What better way to do that than to feature the wedding of Rafi Vazana and Andrey Nozdrin, a gay couple who have been together almost 8 years. If you cry at weddings, be sure to have a hankie nearby for this one. [Special features on the DVD include Lucas' commentary, a film fest Q & A and more.]

Although it is set almost 30 years ago, Dallas Buyers Club (Universal/Focus) is a gut-wrenching reminder of how far we've come and how much farther we have to go. Sadly, the same evils that existed in the mid-1980s, especially the greed and indifference of the pharmaceutical industry, still exist today.

Based on the true story of the late Ron Woodruff (portrayed on screen by Matthew McConaughey in a Golden Globe winning and Oscar-nominated performance), a sexually promiscuous hetero trailer court denizen, who receives an unexpected HIV diagnosis during a hospitalization following a work-related accident. Racist, homophobic and an all-around unpleasant guy, Ron's vitriolic response to his HIV status doesn't surprise attending physicians Sevard (out actor Denis O'Hare) and Saks (Jennifer Garner).

With a shockingly low T-Cell count, Ron is given 30 days to live. He doesn't make the most of the first few, spending them in a drug and alcohol haze. But as reality sets in and days slip by he heads to a library and begins doing research. Returning to the hospital, Ron attempts to get involved in the AZT drug trials taking place in Dallas. Not satisfied with his odds, Ron makes a financial arrangement with an orderly and soon has access to the meds he needs.

Meanwhile, his personal life is crumbling. His equally homophobic friends abandon him and he's unable to find work. He loses access to the AZT and ends up in the hospital. There he meets Rayon (Jared Leto, who also received a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination), an HIV + trans man whom he initially rebuffs. But soon they form an unlikely friendship and business partnership, taking on the medical and pharma establishments, saving lives and extending their own beyond what they originally believed possible.

Alternately heartbreaking and uplifting, Dallas Buyers Club is from the tradition of Norma Rae andPhiladelphia, stories of underdogs and outcasts who triumphantly (and tragically) make an impact on society and movie audiences equally. [Bonus features on the Blu-ray combo pack (Blu-ray/DVD/UV Digital HD) include deleted scenes and "a look inside Dallas Buyers Club".]