It seems almost cliche to say that Poster Boy is a powerful movie. But words to discribe are somewhat limited, and those are the words that seem to express my feelings best. It is powerful not just as a "Gay" movie but as a look at politics and what we do in the name of politics. Yes, i think "powerful" is the best word I can come up with.

The main characters in this movie are the Kray family, Eunice played by Karen Allen, Jack played by Michael Lerner and Henry played by Matt Newton. The fourth "main" character is Anthony played by Jack Noseworthy. There are other characters, some of whom are almost as important to the story as the four listed.

The format of the movie is a newspaper (or magazine, I was not quite sure which) interview of the son of a powerful Republican Senator from North Carolina 6 months after a very pivotal event. The son, we soon learn, is gay. A fact that his father was unaware of. Henry was good at hiding and sneaking around etc and played the part of a "good son" quite adequately..at least by not creating scandal. That all changed 6 months prior to the "now" of this movie when Henry began to find his father's use of him as a young representative a bit much.

The upshot of the whole story is that Henry is a pawn in the "war" between his father and the more adamant of the Gay activist. His coming out is quite public and brings to a head a lot of issues that have been right below the surface in the family for years. At the end, we are led to believe that in all likelihood the Senator and his wife are estranged, the senator and his son are estranged, and lots of other people are "estranged" as well.

While the movie could be seen as an indictment of politicans, especially conservative republican ones, the gay activists dont escape indictment either. The most heart rending comment comes from Henry who observes that 1. his father is not to blame because he is, after all, addicted to politics. While "addiction" may not be how most of us would understand this, it is a powerful way of saying how important politics is to Jack...so important that the "cause" outweights almost everything else including his relationship with his wife and son. 2. The second statement is that it is the politicans (and I would have to say that "politicans" would have to be understood to include the activists not just elected officials) who make issues take center stage..even when those issues have nothing really to do with the lives of the people being effected.

This movie simply blew me away. I couldnt find anyone "innocent" in the entire movie with the possible exception of Henry and I could find a real villian either. It did point up my own struggle to see people instead of issues. It is very easy to get caught up in the "cause" du jour and forget that there are people getting injured by the conflict....people that are bascially "innocent bystanders" who are being drug into a conflict that really has nothing much to do with them. Or in the case of Henry, having his life be made even more complicated and difficult.

To find more on this movie go to this site.