Patriotism duty and sexuality

[thedrifter]

Patriotism duty and sexuality
By Joanne Ostrow
Denver Post TV Critic
Article Last Updated: 06/22/2007 12:18:48 AM MDT


He hands out treats to adoring Iraqi children and looks like a recruiting advertisement in his dress blues.

He speaks with reverence of his country, his parents, his gratifying time as a small-town kindergarten Sunday school teacher.

The handsome Southerner might be the poster child for the all-American guy, but for one thing. After 20 years of living as openly gay, he had to crawl back into the closet to join the Marines.

Now, out and proud, he's telling his story on Showtime.

With the Democrats and Republicans rehashing the tired issue of "Don't ask, don't tell," a feature-length documentary airing this week may win hearts and minds more dramatically than any congressional debate.

"Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey" premieres Monday at 6:30 p.m. on Showtime. A veteran of the independent film festival circuit, "Semper Fi" is one leatherneck's story, a tale of faith, patriotism, duty, family and, incidentally, sexuality.

Using scenes from his one- man stage play, along with video shot in Iraq and at his boyhood home in Alabama, Jeff Key recounts how he volunteered for the Marines at age 34, completed boot camp with men young enough to be his sons, became a lance corporal and served in Iraq, and then returned home heartbroken on many levels.

What he endured in Iraq, the politics of the conflict, his realization concerning what he describes as the real causes of the war, is compounded by the way he was treated by his branch of the service once he revealed his sexual orientation.

In addition to being a tough, 6-foot-5 action hero, Key has "journaling" capabilities. His writing is touching when he keeps it simple, distracting when he tries to be writerly.

Now an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Keys wrote on the organization's website: "On March 31, 2003, I went on CNN's 'Paula Zahn Now' and said to five million people what I was afraid at one time to tell anyone. I used 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' the policy that precludes homosexuals from serving openly in our military, to force them to discharge me. I had been blessed enough not to have killed in my short deployment to Iraq and I would be damned if I would ever 'kill a kid for oil."'

"Semper Fi" was directed by Vince DiPersio, whose films have appeared under the "America Undercover" and "Frontline" banners.

Note that public opinion has shifted on the cynical political compromise that is "don't ask, don't tell." A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2006 showed that 60 percent favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, with 32 percent opposed.

TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey

(Documentary -- Showtime, Mon. June 25, 8:30 p.m.) Produced by Working Dog Pictures. Producer, Eda Godel Hallinan; director, Vince DiPersio.

With: Jeff Key.

By BRIAN LOWRY
Too stagy and precious for its own good, "Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey" is derived from Lance Corporal Jeff Key's one-man show about his tour in Iraq and decision to come outas a gay man upon his return home -- at the cost of his military career. Although filled with interesting moments, the mix of interviews and personal footage Key shot in Iraq with performance material culled from his journals creates an awkward blend, if a clarifying look at the Army's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy and gays' understandable hostility toward the system responsible for it.

An Alabama native, Key and his parents discuss his reluctance to embrace being a homosexual and his eventual move to California where he found a more accepting circle. Most interesting, however, is hearing the reaction from gay friends about Key's decision to enlist in the Marines, with one wryly noting that the military's rejection of gays represents "the one benefit" in a society where many openly discriminate against them.

Key, however, felt a strong desire to serve, and interviews with Marines in his unit find few objecting to being stationed alongside a gay man who, they recognize, would have willingly taken a bullet for them. Yet Key's disenchantment with the prosecution of the Iraq war and the current administration's muddled policy gradually sours him on the experience, to the point where -- in full military regalia -- he stiffly reads his letter to brass acknowledging his sexual orientation.

In some respects, director Vince DiPersio has cobbled together a conventional documentary, but the interviews and footage are punctuated by Key's reenactment of scenes from his play, "The Eyes of Babylon," shot against a stark black backdrop or projected images from Iraq. In that respect, it's a bit like one of Spalding Gray's monologues, though Key simply isn't gifted enough to make the words come alive, and the oscillation from documentary to one-man performance often proves jarring.

Key's John Wayne swagger and patriotic zeal neatly define the bind in which gay military personnel find themselves and go a long way toward undermining stereotypes -- assuming those who harbor them would watch such an exercise. Given that his reflections become yet another indictment of the war, alas, that's not terribly likely.

"Semper Fi" airs on Showtime following its premiere at the San Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Camera, William Hooke; editors, DiPersio, Jason Rosenfield; music, Cato. 76 MIN.

Ellie