In the Moonlight

So I saw the recently released film "Moonlight" last Saturday night and my mind was completely blown.  It was that heavy, that layered, that good.

**SPOILER ALERT** 
I'm going to talk in detail about the merits of this movie so if you haven't seen it, go see it first then come back and read this.

If you plan on watching this and haven't yet please don't let me ruin it for you. Watch it first. Then come back and read this. 

This film brings up so many important issues that need to be addressed.

• Drug addled mothers still trying to care for their children
• Fatherless Black boys
• Being gay in the Black community
• Receiving an unsolicited, specific label while young and have it stick with you throughout your life
• The confusion that comes with romantic feelings about your same sex friends

This movie articulated all of these things in such a poignant way, I want to see it all over again and just to better digest. It was 2 hours of greatness which I will continue to discuss in a more rapid-fire dialogue as opposed to drawn out arguments. 

Some salient points brought to light in all their layered glory were:

• The discussion of being gay in the Black community and how it is not accepted by any means. Even Chiron's mom recognized something was different about her son and still she did nothing because she was to busy getting lifted on crack. 
• Chiron being bullied so much in school and only having one friend his age throughout his entire life it seems.
• The intimacy initiated and fulfilled by that one friend, of course, out under the moonlight.
• That same one friend, not so long after, betraying him due to peer pressure.
• The way Chiron went off but was smart enough to go after the person who perpetrated the violence against him, not the person who actually carried out the violence. Because there is a difference and it's important to be able to identify that. 
• The way Chiron ended up going to prison while, we are lead to assume, the real perpetrator of his torment was never brought to justice of any kind, in or outside the system.
• The social ease Chiron never experienced until he was a young adult, out of his homegrown locale.
• The way he immediately reverted back to his younger, caged, speak-no-more-than-3-words self the minute he saw this same friend, 10 years after an incident.
• The way, after 10-years of no contact, after only one evening of stilted conversation, that friend immediately saw through Chiron's newly attained, "hard" facade.
• The fact that that friend was one of only 3 people he ever felt truly comfortable around.
• The beauty and understanding or lack thereof in all of Chiron's most intimate relationships. 
• The music also struck me in this. True, I love a good movie soundtrack, but in this film, every scene had appropriately matched music, or silence when deemed appropriate, to set the tone, the mood. This was done so well. The writing was also phenomenal. The actors and actresses did excellent jobs but special recognition goes to the 3 Black young men who played Chiron at three stages of his life shown. The necessity of Black talent and Black representation is another post, for another time.

Being gay in the Black community is something that's hardly talked about and brushed under the table as being something "they" do, not something "we" do. It's not something anyone "does", it's a thing that happens and it could happen to anyone. The color of your skin is not a factor, it will not save you. It needs to be addressed. The over-masculinization of Black men is frankly disturbing. Gay Black men need to know it's okay. You're allowed. You will still be loved. It's acceptable. You can be Black and gay. It happens.

In short, there's lots to unpack with this and I highly recommend you see it. Maybe more than once.