Official Trailer:

Boy Erased is the second film from Director Joel Edgerton. His first directorial venture, The Gift, was a psychological thriller that had multiple creepy moments. With these two movies I can confidently say Joel is a very good story teller.

Boy Erased, adapted from a book, based on true events, takes us through the struggle of a boy and his parents, and how the society reacts around them when the boy realizes he is attracted to men. As such parenting is hard when you have a child who is different, it could be as minor as left-handedness to a complex autism. Difference gets amplified if that is considered a sin, goes against your belief system, against god as in the case of sexual orientation. While there have been movies on homosexuality earlier, in this movie, Joel takes the focus on how people around the boy react, struggle and the conflicts they go through.

Story shows how the boy moves from his initial confusion to anger, then resistance, and final acceptance. Parents, on coming to know about his orientation sign him up to undergo a 12 session in a conversion therapy facility, named L.I.A (Love In Action). Conversion / Correctness facilities programs are driven by a combination of religious dogma, and psychological pressure – homosexuality is against god, it is a sin, it is a choice that can be fixed, fake it to make it. Everything is monitored, phone contacts, notes, writings, including restroom breaks. They are forced to go through their moral inventory and accept they are all acts of sin, they have committed a sin. Get the gayness out by praying to God and accepting in your head it is a sin. Correctional facilities are also driven by money, push them to sign up for yearlong residence, if they don’t change within 12 days program.

Director manages to give screen time for the boy’s journey from confusion to acceptance, parents’ struggle, and non-sensical approach of conversion therapy centers. The father, who is a preacher, is not able make up his mind between his belief in God’s teachings and his son. It puts a huge strain on their relationship. Will he ever get to a state where he loves his God and also his Son? Like boy’s mother does? He waits for an answer from God. Did he get the direction from his God? Watch the movie to find out ☺

Lucas Hedges as the son brings out the emotions effectively as he goes through confusion, anger and resistance. Even though their screen time is less, Russel Crowe and Nicole Kidman as parents give out a memorable performance. Specifically, Russell Crowe brings out the conflict the goes through between his belief and accepting his son. Both want to stop pretending as if things are normal between them when it is not. Even with short screen time presence, characters like Gary (fake it to make it, do you think you can change?) and Cameron (not able to go against his heart and conviction, pays a hefty price for it) make an impact on the audience.

While I have heard about correctional facilities in US, it came as a surprise to me they still operate in 36 states in US. Illegal in other states. It is very important for all of us as a society to discuss openly about differences, parenting challenges, and support from society. It will not help to take extreme positions – criticizing the prejudices without acknowledging the belief system and conditioning taking a holier than though position is as extreme a position as to a position of calling, the differences are a sin and against God without acknowledging what science tells us. Until we get out of extreme positions, we will keep talking across each other.