Reel Pride Film Festival

Tower Theatre :: 7:30pm :: Wednesday, September 16

Outrage

  • $20.00
    • online closed. tickets available at box office
  • Director: Kirby Dick
  • 2008, USA, 90min

Yet another film seemingly too controversial to make it to mainstream Fresno theaters, ‘Outrage’ is a brilliant piece of filmmaking, ‘starring’ some of the most powerful people in America – the closeted politicians who help make the rules governing gay and lesbian lifestyles.

What acclaimed filmmaker Kirby Dick has done is extensively follow the anti-gay voting records of certain politicians and then compared them to their hidden lifestyles. He smoothly brings this all to the screen, exposing the hypocrisy of living publicly as a moral icon and privately as a gay man (yes, Larry Craig and his bathroom toe-taps are here).

"Outrage" establishes Dick as a formidable force in the investigative documentary field, especially coming on the heels of his last doc, "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," which bashed the MPAA's impenetrable and often irrational film rating system.  Like Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show," Dick has a wonderful eye for capturing telling moments of political sanctimony and posturing.

"A powerful, disturbing and significant film.” –Kenneth Turan, LA Times

"This film is a muckraking provocation whose time has come." -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Outrage more than lives up to its title and should spark vociferous debate." - Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

"Outrage is essential viewing -- a film that offers a window into modern politics, and the political obstacles faced by gays and lesbians around the country." - Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle

Dick's world view is best expressed in the film by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the few gay congressmen who has voluntarily come out of the closet, who says: "There is a right to privacy, there's no right to hypocrisy." Dick makes a strong case that closeted gays are often the most enthusiastic opponents of gay rights legislation, in part to establish their bona fides in the straight world.

He has a case to make and he makes it well, reminding us that it was closeted gay political figures who were usually the last ones to join the fight against AIDS or lend support to any LGBT anti-discrimination efforts. When the closet door is securely shut, it's awfully dark inside.

With appearances by: 
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Wayne Barrett, Elizabeth Birch, Chris Bull, John Byrne, David Catania, Gary Cathey, Steven Clemons, Mark Cromer, Kirk Fordham, Congressman Barney Frank, Neil Giuliano, Larry Gross, Patrick Guerriero, Dan Gurley, Frederick Hertz, Ambassador Jim Hormel, Congressman Jim Kolbe, Larry Kramer, Tony Kushner, Dina Matos McGreevey, Rodger McFarlane, Governor James McGreevey, Bob Norman, Kevin Naff, David Phillips, Dan Popkey, Alexander Robinson, Michael Rogers, Hilary Rosen, David Rothenberg, Tom Sheridan, Michelangelo Signorile, Andrew Sullivan, Rich Tafel, Matthew Weissman, and Jose Antonio Vargas