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Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 218

Publication:
Chicago Tribunei
Location:
Chicago, Illinois
Issue Date:
Page:
218
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Friday Section 7 Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 5, 1994 ND Film of 'Coming Out' focuses on gay ban I. I JV mmi Ulll'il rn llan Berube's "Coming ill 0ut Under Fire: Tne (J History of Gay Men and Lesbians During World War II" was a fascinating, award-winning book. The film of the same name by critically acclaimed filmmaker Arthur Dong is also fascinating, but for different reasons. While Berube's book explored how a culture came into being 5 fir V'if mmm- 02r nil 1 a. il a lf.ini.BMi Corps in World War II, from the film Meet the Stars of the Lawrence WMk Show including "Bodfiie Myn flaren, Jbe feney, 4 Onocani while enjoying a luscious luncheon at the Dairy Lane Martinique Restaurant Bar your luncheon show ticket at lull price plus tax gratuity your EMSM IS PMEES Your Luncheon includes: SOUP OP mi DAY HMMIULN CHICKEN ft TUNA SALAD BOAT A fresh pineapple boat filled with chunks of fresh chicken i tuna with mandarin oranges surrounded by assorted fresh fruit of melon, cantaloupe, grapes strawberries.

10 OZ. GROUND SIRLOIN With FRESH MUSHROOM CAPS A giant, Top Sirloin freshly ground and broiled. Served with mushroom caps. DESSERT STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE Giant, fresh strawberries served on top a delightful sponge cake topped with real whip cream. Members of the Women's Army "Coming Out Under Fire." The problem with Dong's focus is not so much that the headlines about the ban are gone (although they are, even, for the most part, in gay rags such as The Advocate and Out), but that it was always more' Clinton's issue than the gay community's.

Before Clinton's campaign promise, the ban was primarily the focus of gay, lesbian and bisexual veterans, many of whom had suffered its consequences. But it was only one of many issues for national political groups such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign Fund. Indeed, one of the reasons gay activists were so blindsided by Clinton and the hearings was that they were not all that prepared on the issue themselves. Because of all this, Dong's "Coming Out Under Fire" doesn't really break new political ground. Most of its points were already made during the 1993 hearings, which aired on cable.

(And, curiously, the film leaves out some of Berube's most ironic research, such as that the psychiatric test that led to the ban was intended as humane and was actually proposed by, among others, a gay psychiatrist) Still, Dong's "Coming Out After hours Achy Obejas as young gay Americans went to the cities and discovered each other, Dong's film bookends the World War material with footage of the 1993 Senate hearings after President Clinton's halfhearted attempt to lift the military ban against homosexuals and focuses on that instead. Dong's "Coming Out Under Fire" makes its Chicago premiere Friday at the Film Center of the Art Institute. The narrow focus is both the film's strength and its weakness. Clearly, Berube's rich history, with all its nuance and detail, wasn't going to easily translate into film unless it could be centered on one topic. By choosing the military ban and its particular history, Dong is able to explore it in some depth.

And, undoubtedly, because of the controversy's timeliness at the time that he and Berube were seeking funding (including from, of all places, the National Endowment for the Arts), they were able to draw substantial attention and support for their project But by putting the spotlight so squarely on the ban itself, the film seems to have missed the biggest point of the book which was that during the Second World War, there was a complex, lively gay society that had its own lingo, fashions, newspapers, clubs and other institutions, even before the gay rights movement of the 1960s. Moreover, by putting the focus on the ban, Dong risks being dated. Certainly, there's a timeless horror to the way gays and lesbians were labeled sociopaths, thrown into queer stockades and dishonorably discharged during the 1940s and the footage showing Virginia's current Sen. John Warner (yes, Elizabeth Taylor's ex) telling a lesbian witness during the 1993 hearings that giving up her sexuality to serve her country is not "asking too much" clearly underscores how prejudice and ignorance continue. Artneronart 50 Charts 0 Cheap eats 39 Conceit line 0 The Friday guide 20 Buy your dinner show ticket at full price plus tax gratuity your ESINCJER IS PREEI Your choice of entrees include: PRIMS RIB OP BEEP or JUMBO ANT AIL SHRIMP Under Fire" is a fascinating and poignant look at how the ban affected seven lives.

Photographed in black and white, seven gay and lesbian veterans tell Dong how they loved the military, how it changed them and helped them grow, and how the ban ultimately devastated them. Although not all were dishonorably discharged, all were scarred by the experience: "Clark," now in his 70s, is still trying to get his discharge changed in what appears a hopeless, helpless campaign; Sarah Davis tells Dong how the lesbian witchhunts in the military affected her ability to trust and broke her spirit; conservative maven Marvin Liebman (yes, William F. Buckley's best friend and one of the intellectual architects of the Reagan Revolution) confesses how being discovered and expelled threw him into a denial that lasted more than 50 years. The vets interviews are intercut with rare archival footage of inductions, trainings and recruiting interviews. Although there's nudity a-go-go in this footage, rarely has the human body seemed so bland and sexless.

And, that, of course, may well be one of the movie's points. Gene Siskel Take 2 A-P Theater 16 This week 9 Ticket booth 4 Tapes Bar Restaurant In Hillside. find marinated octopus with peppers. lm 1 PRIME or FANTAIL SHRIMP SPECIAL cuy your dinner show ticket at full price plus tax i gratuity your DHU1ER IS FREE! Your choice of entrees Include: PRIME RIB OP BEEP JUMBO FANTAIL SHRIMP 'Vssh( many bdz NDk I'll The After Hours date book Friday through Aug. 14, Coming Out Under Fire," Film Center of the Art Institute, Columbus Drive at Jackson Boulevard.

Call 312-443-3733 fa show times and ticket information. The Film Center is wheelchair accessible. Index Go guide 44 Home entertainment 51 Greg Kot 5 Movies, Music Take 2 Restaurants 39 On today's cover: Tribune photo by Bill Hogan of tapas from Emillo's Clockwise from upper leftrcured Atlantic salmon; shrimp -with three sauces,.

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