Shank - Unrated Director Cut (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)The film, "Shank" was one of the offerings at the 14th Annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival at the Carolina Theater in Durham, NC from August 13th through August 16th, 2009. It was not an easy film to watch because it depicted gang members who spent their days drinking and using drugs and filling their nights as a group picking out gay men who happened to be alone and defenseless, beating them senseless just for fun. In that gang was a young man named Cal who was a closeted gay man fighting it with everything he was worth. The problem was, he was in love with the defacto-leader of the gang, so much so that the desires he felt had bubbled up from their depths and in spite of himself, he found himself seeking out ways to meet those needs with strange men. The tightrope he had to walk was this: meet those desires but at all costs never let the gang discover he was doing it. He was so conflicted that after he would give in to his desires, he would become physically sick and woe to any man who happened to be his pickup if he assumed after the incident that Cal was gay.
One night, the prey that the gang selected for their gay bashing was a young college student and before the beating completely got out of hand, Cal stopped it surprising both the gang members and the victim, as well as himself. The victim, Oliver, was so thankful to Cal for saving him, he brought him home and treated him nicely giving Cal his first opportunity to have a decent relationship. But, the gang members couldn't let Cal drop out of the gang. That would be treason and would require revenge, so as each day passed they planned and plotted to win him back, but that was before they discovered his secret. When they found out what Cal had been up to, pay-back was required and a scheme that would outrank anything they had ever done began to take shape.
Again, it was not an easy movie to watch but we need to see these kind of films to be reminded that there are places in this world where gays and lesbians are not safe without others to back us up. And don't be fooled that America is exempt from this hatred (it has only been a few short years since the incident of Matthew Shepherd occurred). Many hate us and would rather see us dead or never born than to see us walking around gay and proud.
But, back to the film itself and what I think made it not just a good movie but a great one. Near the end of the film there was a scene where no words were spoken. Two actions were taken by two of the characters in the film one of which was a request for forgiveness and the other was a granting of that request. The scene simply accomplished what the most elaborate words could have never achieved. It was a scene that will live forever in my memory. Rent the DVD when it comes out in October and see if you can pick out the scene I'm talking about.


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Shank is a blistering British indie pulsating with untamed sexuality and aggression. Cal (Wayne Virgo) is a handsome teenage thug so desperate to hide his gay cravings from his fellow gang members that he binges on drugs, secretive anonymous sex and acts of violence. But the bad boy s secret desires are uncovered when he rescues a kind-eyed French exchange student from one of the clan s sadistic hate crimes. Though the two boys fall passionately in love, Cal s crew is bent on revenge for his betrayal and the young lovers are placed in unspeakable danger. Unapologetic and as poignant as it is shocking, Shank is a must see...

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