eveningsout
Living on the fringe of society
Lola and Billy the Kid Directed by E. Kutlug Ataman Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal
Films of interest to GLBT people have increased exponentially in the last several years. And yet, because of marketing forces and the tastes and needs of the demographics, many of the gems of gay and lesbian cinema never see the light of day on Ameri-
can screens.
Thankfully, distribution sources like Picture This Entertainment procure and distribute some of the best in GLBT films from all over the world. One such release, now on video, is the German film Lola and Billy the Kid, written and directed by E. Kutlug Ataman.
In German and Turkish with English subtitles, Lola is a moving and masterfully spun tale about a microcosm of the gay subculture rarely, if ever, seen on the screen. The film goes into the world of Turkish immigrants living in Berlin, and examines the undercurrents of race, gender, sexuality and class through the eyes of 17-year-old Murat.
Murat is slowly but surely discovering the trauma and bliss that is his homosexuality. As he is grappling with these confounding feelings for men, Murat has to face the willful ignorance and malice-laden machismo of his older brother Osman.
Osman, now the patriarch of the family after their father's death, is a brute-crass, coarse and conniving. The two brothers live in a tiny apartment, in the Turkish ghetto in Berlin, with their mother. She is a traditional woman of Islam who demurely goes about her business, her head bowed most of the time, weighed down by the literal and metaphorical presence of her persistent head scarf.
Osman, like any big brother, tries to teach his younger brother Murat how to become a man. Osman is insistent that Murat lose his virginity--to a woman, of course. He pushes and badgers Murat until the younger sibling can take it no more. Tired of the pressures and stupid games that Osman forces him to play, Murat runs away from home, hoping to find himself and others like him.
Homeless and penniless he ends up meeting Lola at a bar. Lola is a Turkish drag performer, who does traditional dances at the bar. Lola's man is Billy, who adds "the Kid" for his infatuation with American Western films. Billy the Kid is a very macho Turk who is madly in love with Lola, in an abusive and demented sort of way. He has their future entirely mapped out.
In order to live "legitimately" with his male lover, Billy is trying to pressure Lola into having an operation and becoming a woman so they can get married and live happily ever after.
Lola is exploring his options but isn't thrilled by the prospect of becoming a woman for the rest of his life.
When Murat enters the lives of Lola and Billy, things get even more interesting. As Murat tries to come to grips with his sexuality and his poverty, Billy, like any good pimp, gives him the necessary lessons in hustling. Murat sells his body and his soul to middle-aged professional German men who like to wait around the street vendor where Murat hangs out, cruise some exotic, young beauty, suck some dick in a subterranean bathroom and then go home to their wife and kids.
There is an exquisitely succinct and painful scene in which Murat goes down to the subway restroom with his first john. He is cruised by this man while he is just beginning to peel his daily meal, a banana. Fruit barely peeled, Murat follows his subsistence to the seedy underbelly of Berlin where they enter a stall and get to business.
Even on his first job, Murat is bored and realizes that this is purely utilitarian. As the john goes about his oral pleasures, Murat leans back against the tiled wall, a look of professional ennui on his face, and finishes eating the banana he had started just minutes ago.
That scene exemplifies not only the wry sense of humor that floods through Lola and Billy the Kid, but it also gives us a great insight into the detailed observations about life and humanity that the writer and director mesmerizes us with. In that scene, brief and to the point, visually powerful and with no dialogue, the filmmakers are able to convey an entire universe of emotions and experiences, something most films fail to do in their entire running time.
Billy the Kid, jealous and insecure in his love affair with Lola, is convinced that Murat is making the moves on his girl. But as Murat and Lola get to know one another they realize that there are past connections and painful secrets that need to be spoken. It's not so much that this film is interested in a twist ending. Rather, it seems insistent on exploring the idea of how hidden most people's lives can really be, particularly if they are outsiders, living on the fringes of society.
As all the lives of these disparate and desperate people collide, there are explosive consequences to be faced and disastrous endings to be met. Not only do Lola and Murat have to struggle with the burdens of being gay men, but all the Turks also have to suffer the bigotry at the hands of the white Germans.
Moreover, Lola and Murat are constantly harangued by macho men like Billy and Osman. In this world of constantly having to run and hide, the truth eventually has to break free and as everyone is exposed, in the bright light of that truth, only the strongest are left standing.
The film is powerfully directed, packing a visual and emotional punch. The ending sequences of the film are as moving and brutal as the love making scenes earlier in the film. No matter what the scene, director Ataman and his cast always come through with total honesty.
It is also important to point out that in Turkish culture, like other Islamic enclaves, the issue of homosexuality is extremely taboo. Ataman has taken us into such a secretive world, and as such, the very act of making this film is a sort of coming out of the closet. And yet, the film doesn't stereotype Islam.
Rather, through an amazing act of defiance by the diminutive mother, the film is making some powerful statements not only about Islam and sexuality, but also about the role of women in Islam and in the world at large.
This film is reminiscent in many ways of the classic West Side Story with its focal point of doomed love, ill-destined lovers and ethnic chaos in an urban hell.
And yet, because Lola and Billy the Kid is not an American musical, it doesn't go for cheap emotions and gratuitous sentimentality. It simply tells the tale for what it's worth.
This prized presentation is not only a well-made film, but also a ride through a world of people rarely seen before. This is an urban Western, from a foreign land, that makes the claim "It's gonna be a bumpy ride" sound feeble.
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