Trying Desperately to "Be Like Others"

Trying Desperately to "Be Like Others"

“Be Like Others” is a compelling documentary from director Tanaz Eshaghian grappling with the deadly social stigma around transexuality and sex change in one of the world’s most strictly traditional theocracies, Iran. The country has become notorious for its hostility towards homosexuality, a capital offence punishable by death. Iran is nevertheless willing to fund and perform sex changes on its questioning population- whether or not they identify as transsexual. But as far as these conflicted youth may go to “correct nature’s mistake”, society will not accept them, and many are thrown out of their homes once their families hear of their conversion. And as their ostracism continues, and friends and potential spouses also drift away, the pre-op transsexuals of Tehran’s only sex change clinic are forced to weather this lonely battle with only each other for support.

The film chronicles two pre-op transsexuals, Annosh and Ali Ashgar as they face the merciless glare of Iran’s reactionary society. They stuggle with the Orwellian morality police, the antagonizing state journalist, and their harsh families. The homophobia of other transsexuals is perhaps the most provocative theme the film explores, as Islamic propaganda decrying homosexuality as an ‘abomination’ convinces these overtly homosexual men they must undergo surgery to make their irreligious compulsions acceptable to Allah. This is Vida, a post-op transsexual, who describes her averseness towards homosexuals. “I don’t like homosexuals,” she claims. “[I can speak with them], but I cannot be their friend.”

But whatever their differences, neither group will ever be accepted by the Muslim world. The extreme discrimination faced by this community is highlighted by an especially affecting conversation with Ali, who admits his father attempted to poison his tea with arsenic when faced with his son’s reassignment surgery.

But as revealing as the film is, it does suffer from a lack of narration, and the constant trapeze of characters in and out of the film, some without any description whatsoever, often left me confused. The film reads something like a 74 minute diary- close, personal, evocative, but uncertain how to provide context for an experience that is too difficult to imagine. The film seldom explores the world outside the sexual reassignment clinic, and when it does, it fails to capture the targeted hostility these characters face first-hand.

But despite its flaws, “Be Like Others” is one of the most intimate portrayals of Iranian transgender life put on screen. As Iran continues to face scrutiny for its abysmal human rights policies, documentaries like this will only become more rare: a humanizing exploration of the world’s most oppressive theocracy, through the eyes of its most oppressed minority.

You can see “Be Like Others” at 7:00 pm Monday, June 23rd at the Victoria Theatre as part of the Frameline International LGBT Film Festival.