Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a re-watch.
The Harrowing: Soldier’s Girl
It brings us so much joy to realize that LGBTQ Americans serving their country in the military have been able to do so openly for more than a decade. We’re still waiting on a deluge of films that capture the experience of queer people who dared to serve before President Barack Obama championed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” No doubt those stories will have their share of harrowing–and horrifying–details.
For a precursor, look no further than this 2003 drama penned by openly gay Philadelphia screenwriter Ron Nyswaner. Soldier’s Girl tells the real-life story of Army Private Barry Winchell (played in the film by Troy Garity, son of Jane Fonda), and his girlfriend Calpernia Addams (played by queer actor Lee Pace). While stationed outside Nashville, Winchell meets Addams–also a veteran–at a nightclub where she works as a dancer. Sparks fly, and the couple begin dating. When word gets out that Calpernia is actually transgender, Winchell’s fellow servicemen begin to target him with homophobic harassment. Sparks of a different kind begin to fly, resulting in an explosive and devastating conclusion.
First things first: elements of Soldier’s Girl haven’t aged well, notably the casting of Pace as a transgender woman. That said, Pace gives a powerful and convincing performance as Addams. Garity also delivers one of his best performances as Winchell, a man so in love he fails to recognize the impending danger around him. Then again, maybe Winchell does recognize the danger…he just has nowhere to turn.
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Soldier’s Girl tells both an important queer story, and makes an important point: in a climate of codified homophobia, everyone–gay, straight, or in between–is at risk. Though it may be a film of its time, it is one made with empathy, sincerity, and righteous anger. Viewers may not exactly feel eager to revisit a story this sad or painful, but as LGBTQ people and Americans, we owe it to ourselves and our progeny to remember the unpleasant chapters, lest we ever repeat them.
Watch, and pay respect.
Streams on Paramount+ and YouTube.
rray63
Saw this quite a while back. Great film that is heart wrenching.
Huron132
This was a great movie. I remember sitting with a group of friends. You could hear a pin drop, it was so quiet. Everyone just was so mesmerized by the story. There wasn’t a dry eye in the group when it was over. This was a move before it’s time. It should be a movie every LGBT+ person should see in their lifetime.
Hank31
I loved the scene where they compared Ds. She was bigger.
barryaksarben
This was a wonderful film and so very very sad. Both actors did such an amazing job. I became a huge fan of both after this
felixthegato
You’ll love Calpernia lip-singing to k.d. Lang’s The Consequences of Falling
Hank31
lol. What an absurd headline,
Kevan1
P.S. Calpernia was very attractive and looked more like a natural woman than she is portrayed in this movie.
mothdan
cis woman*
inbama
@mothdan
*woman
judysdad
?Great movie. But she wasn’t a woman.
mothdan
yes she was 🙂 trans women are women, it’s in the phrase lmao
Hank31
@mothdan Trans women are women in the same way that hot dogs are dogs.
Bradley
Excellent film, and a brilliant cast. I bought this on DVD many, many years ago. Very intense, and not much to offer in the humor department, but it feels more real than many bigger-budget films that have had much more hype and promotion. And for those who say “she wasn’t a woman,” all I can say is, I’ve known a few “natural” women who looked very much like Lee Pace’s portrayal. His performance is touching and haunting, in the best way possible.
mothdan
say cis. trans people aren’t unnatural
GreekKeys
To paraphrase Dolly Parton, it takes a lot of synthetic hormones and surgery to look that natural.
JED08
Lee Pace and Troy Garity were fantastic in this. Calpernia Addams is still kicking around. Interesting side note, I introduced my mom to another of the songs featured in this movie, Cold by Annie Lennox, and it became one of her very favorite songs.
inbama
Didn’t Calpernia Addams receive a lot of T hate for coaching Jared Leto for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club?”
GreekKeys
Completely misleading headline. He was killed for loving a man. No one intimately involved in this event would deny that. The TRAs have an addiction to rewriting history, assigning labels to people aren’t around to defend themselves. It’s nauseating.
Halfnhalf
Obviously, you are confused, and I question why you are commenting. I realized when I read the title of the article and the movie that it was talking about a transwoman. I wonder why you transphobes inhabit this queer space. Always saying the same brainless crap. We know assholes like you are out there, we don’t need a reminder. When ever we go anywhere, we are careful, because we can be murdered at anytime. The fact that you dishonor us, especially veterans like myself, is really sad. It makes me wonder if my choice to enlist all those years ago was wrong. I served this country only to be insulted by the people I was protecting.
lykeitiz
Excellent movie. Fantastic writing, superb acting. Ridiculous to suggest Pace shouldn’t have been cast.
Anther great performance in it comes from Sean Hatosy, who currently plays Pope on “Animal Kingdom”.
ryeguypdx
I support trans people, and want them to be happy, healthy, and safe.
I don’t understand why two things that are objectively different can’t have different words used to describe them. It’s politics, right? There’s a slogan, “Trans women are women”, and people have taken it literally, so that’s just the end of the conversation? Because distinct nouns deserve distinct words. You don’t call an apple an orange just because politics and slogans demand it.
The headline makes no sense, and if you want to understand why the soldier was killed, the headline actually misleads, and takes you farther from the truth of the matter. You dishonor Winchell’s story by misrepresenting what he died for.
It’s ridiculous to assume words no longer function because of political slogans.
PhillyProud
How could you say you support trans people and then call “trans women are women” a “slogan”, then mock people taking it literally? How should we take it? It literally means that trans women are women.
ffmikey
Obama DID NOT end DADT, it was already ruled unconstitutional by a Federal Court after a suit was filed by the Gay Log Cabin Republicans. In fact the legislation signed into law delayed the ruling for over a year resulting in more servicemen and women to be discharged for being gay or lesbian. And when one looks at the statistics after DADT was passed discharges went up during the Clinton Presidency, fell during Bush’s time in office and again increased under Obama.
I served in the Army during the Viet Nam War and every unit I was in starting in Basic Training gays were serving openly. This included Servicemen , NCO’S and Officers.
To state that Obama ended DADT is a complete lie pushed by the left. They hate to admit it was Gay Republicans that went to court and succeeded in having it abolished and not their own Stonewall Democrats.
duke4172
I would love to see Any Mothers son again it was similer to this movie!