‘La Mission’ star Benjamin Bratt on the crossroads of gay and Latino culture
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| MARICON ‘MSSION’ | ‘La Mission,’ which stars ‘Law & Order’ hunk Benjamin Bratt as a brutal father dealing with a gay son (Jeremy Ray Valdez), opens the USA Film Festival Wednesday. |
In La Mission, a Latino ex-con living in San Francisco’s Mission district, Che Rivera (Benjamin Bratt), discovers that his beloved teenage son, Jesse (Jeremy Ray Valdez), is gay and has a boyfriend (a Caucasian to boot), which causes a shattering conflict between the father and child.
Portraying the macho, complex Che, Bratt — long on our radar thanks to roles in Law & Order, Pinero (in which he played the titular bisexual poet, Miguel Pinero), and lamentable but well-meaning Madonna/Rupert Everett vehicle The Next Best Thing — turns in an award-worthy performance, while the adorable Valdez completely avoids cliché as the headstrong, self-assured Jesse.
Written and directed by Bratt’s brother, Peter, La Mission premiered to standing (and teary-eyed) ovations at the Sundance Film Festival and opens Wednesday at the USA Film Festival. Benjamin, who also served as producer, and Valdez discussed the film over breakfast.
Dallas Voice: Che represents such a dichotomy — a warm, good person yet hardwired to react with violence and fury towards his son’s homosexuality despite a deep love for him and family.
Bratt: It would be all too easy to demonize Che. Peter wanted to illuminate both characters’ journeys. Jesse probably has the more difficult journey, which is in the face of fear, potential rejection, violence and even death, to reveal who he is to the person he loves the most with the likelihood of losing that relationship. On the other side of the coin, you have someone who has an equal fear of losing the person he cherishes the most. Che can’t help but see Jesse as a direct reflection of who he is as a man. And if he’s gay, which is feminine, he’s "less-than." Calling someone a faggot or bitch is to feminize them. That speaks to misogyny. That’s the lesser of the species. But that’s how most men are socialized. Doesn’t matter if you grew up in the Mission or Des Moines.
Jeremy, have you ever known someone in your character’s situation?
Valdez: Yes. I spoke with a lot of my gay friends and asked what was it like coming out. One of [the film’s] advisors, John Amaechi — the first NBA player to come out — I got to hang out with on set. And he told me about how guys who were his buddies, that he high-fived in the locker room and had great relationships with, turned their back on him [when he came out]. He said he didn’t want to be a part of the NBA or play basketball anymore because people were so mean. That gave me a lot to think about. But we wanted to portray Jesse as a strong character.
Today’s gay youth is different than last generation’s. Now there’s a sense of empowerment and they’re not afraid to come out as much as they used to be. "Love me for who I am" is what he’s saying.
Ben, you and Peter were born in San Francisco, grew up in and around the Mission District, and employed a lot of locals for the film’s production. Did anyone involved share Che’s disgust regarding the gay aspect?
Bratt: There was an incident when we were shooting the scene outside the house and Jesse was getting a beat down [from Che]. Some homies pulled up and asked, "Why is he getting the beating?"
We didn’t hide the storyline from anyone, in fact we encouraged people to understand what it was about, and when they discovered why he was receiving the beating in the context of the story [their reaction] was, "Good — shit, he deserves it." But the community could not have been more supportive.
How was it working with your Jeremy?
Valdez: The toughest scene was when [Che and Jesse] are eating together after he comes out. Ben gave me just as much emotional reaction when the camera wasn’t on him. It’s a harsh moment but wonderful. And there’s one subtle thing going on. It’s the way his characters hold their silverware. Che held his fork like a caveman. …
Bratt: Like a prisoner guards his plate, like a shovel. …
Valdez: I didn’t notice it when we filmed the scene but it’s right there, the difference between these two characters.
Bratt: It’s a good indication of the difference between a brute and someone with refinement.
The scene where Che encounters Jesse’s boyfriend [played by Max Rosenak] and attacks him, holding him against a wall by his neck is pretty terrifying and convincing.
Bratt: In hindsight I feel bad. I think I really spooked Max. I lifted him off the ground, so his reaction was quite real. He gave me a wide berth afterwards, let’s put it that way.
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Notable at the USA Film Festival
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The USA Film Festival doesn’t have a lot of gay content this year —
its 40th — but as Spencer Tracy would say, what’s there is choice.
In addition to the centerpiece opening night film La Mission (see interview above), the festival kicks off Wednesday with Drones, a sci-fi office comedy co-directed by Amber Benson and Adam Busch, who co-starred as Tara and Warren on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both will be in attendance.
On Thursday, the documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition — about the Prop 8 initiative to repeal same-sex marriage in California — screens. (See review on Page 25).
On April 30, Dirty Martini and the New Burlesque profiles the zaftig drag performer, pictured, who developed a cult of "new" striptease.
Then on May 1, The City of Your Final Destination, gay filmmaker James Ivory’s latest picture — his first without producing partner Ismail Merchant, who died five years ago — tells a quirky multicultural tale and features Anthony Hopkins and Hiroyuki Sanada as gay lovers. Sanada, one of Japan’s biggest stars (he also plays the devious temple sentry on this season of Lost), will attend.
— A.W.J.
For details about the festival, which runs April 28–May 2 at the Angelika Film Center Mockingbird Station, visit USAFilmFestival.com.
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Indecent proposition
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The trend in documentaries for a while — Kirby Dick’s Outrage for instance, and most of Michael Moore’s films — isn’t to present a kind of filmed investigative journalism, even though most would have you believe that. No, they don’t really break stories so much as they coalesce the evidence widely available elsewhere in a compelling, thematic way.
And while that may also be the case with 8: The Mormon Proposition, the film has an urgency of mystery, even as it makes its case without apology.
Newspapers widely reported how the LDS church was instrumental in fundraising to get Prop 8 on the California ballot and passed, robbing gay citizens of their marriage rights. But director Reed Cowan makes that the sharp point of his film, delving back to the 1990s to show the organized, intense but shadowy history of Mormon opposition to gay rights, starting in Hawaii and following through the misinformation that amounted to virtual gay-bashing in 2008. He also uncovers, through activist Fred Karger, the insidious (and potentially illegal) actions by the church to involve itself in politics.
Does the film demonize some Mormon leaders? A bit. But it’s impossible not to be moved to tears by some of the stories of betrayal and anger visited upon the gay community by those claiming to act in furtherance of Holy Scripture, and conclude any group that would target people with hate in the name of love deserve it.
— Arnold Wayne Jones
Screens April 29 at 7 p.m.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 23, 2010.
