Licensed to Kill. - movie reviews

written and directed by Arthur Dong (DeepFocus)

Reviewed by Mark J. Huisman

Gay bashing is not a new subject, But filmmaker Arthur Dong (Coming Out Under Fire) finds a refreshing new angle on the issue in his tour-de-force documentary Licensed to Kill. Asking "Who are you?" and "Why did you do it?" Dong contacted 16 convicts imprisoned for murdering gay men. Using police-interrogation videos, TV news clips, and crime-scene photos (some gruesome beyond belief), he pieces these stories together to create a string of queer true-crime novellas, sometimes to surprising effect. Just when you're ready to write these guys off, one makes a point that's right on the money. (Asked why his victims were gay, one killer replies, "Not very many people care about a homosexual. The police sure don't.")

Although Licensed to Kill employs the usual Bible-thumpers, like Ralph Reed and Pat Robertson, Dong eschews emotional hyperbole. Considering that the filmmaker was once gay-bashed himself, he has produced a remarkably objective work. His simple focus on our killers gives the film undeniable power. The most wrenching story: how an HIV-positive gay man filled with self-hatred turned his anger on other gays, Here's a man who slaughtered some of us, yet you might find yourself sympathizing with him.

The words of these killers will convince you that as long as people believe gays are inferior, some will employ those beliefs as a license to kill.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Liberation Publications, Inc.
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