Call Me Kuchu (Documentary)

This intimate but level-headed documentary about Ugandan homophobia speaks with both gay activists and those persecuting them. Watching this documentary had been on my list for a while since I spent some time in the country while the law in 2014 was being passed, so I had personal experiences that made me wanna see this, to appreciate it closer. Sadly, I got my hands on it just recently. "Kuchu" is a local term used for homosexuals in the country. We not only hear form the handful of gay and lesbian activists openly standing up for their rights but also from the other side, whose hatred and bigotry suggest deeper pathologies, and whose methods terrifyingly illustrate the mechanics of mob incitement.

The documentary is partly framed as a portrait of David Kato, Uganda's first openly gay man, while other gay men and lesbian women are also interviewed. David was an activist of enormous courage and persistence, who loved his friends, his farm , a good party but was also terrified of sleeping alone on his farm. He became the face of the movement towards equality, going on television and testifying in court whenever necessary. We meet Naome, a serenely beautiful lesbian who walks a fine line building bridges to the mainstream world, knowing that if she's outed all her gains will crumble. Stosh, a 20-something trans man, who tells of being berated by his grandmother years ago, after a man saw the teenage Stosh fooling around with another young woman — and administered a "corrective rape." And then there is Longjones, a vivacious LGBT counselor who came out after a long sojourn in the closet, who celebrates a key legal victory by emceeing an impromptu drag beauty pageant. David opened the door while they sought to continue ensuring outsiders couldn’t close it. David was eventually bludgeoned to death in his home by a man he'd been kind to. Because his tiny group was well-connected, his murder instantly became global news.

The film is structured around their legal fight against a Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill that called for the death penalty for HIV-positive gays — and prison for anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, who failed to turn in anyone known to be LGBT. The film shows in frightening detail that such formal legislative proposals are made possible precisely by the canny exploitation of the rickety new democratic infrastructure of a post-colonial African state. Having said that, there are many uplifting moments of pure individuality standing against the persecution that will make you smile. We need these sequences of hopeful joy because the majority of the story is difficult to fathom. Crowds of other haters crash Kato's funeral to scream invective at the mourners. And at the United Nations, as country after country voices opposition to the Ugandan bill. This movie and the dauntless people in it, packing up and moving on when their lives are endangered, and yet fronting up to courts, hostile crowds, policemen, clergy and thugs (sometimes the same people), will give heart to those who are still struggling. (6.5/10)