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SOUTHERN COMFORT Send This Review to a Friend
Like most exceptional documentaries, "Southern Comfort" goes beyond its immediate subject to involve us in an even broader area. In this case the extraordinary film produced, directed, photographed and edited by Kate Davis challenges society's prejudices against those who dare be different in trying to pursue their own lives and find happiness on their terms.
"Southern Comfort" investigates the world of Robert Eads, who was born female but realized that he really should be a man and took steps to transform his gender. When we meet him at the age of 52, he has a beard, looks as masculine as any natural-born man and is a positive, warm and very decent human being who lives in rural Georgia as a rancher. He is also dying of ovarian cancer, a fate that would be hard enough for someone living life conventionally as a woman, but an added horror story for someone denied proper medical attention by those who shy from his situation.
Davis takes her camera into his life and loving relationship with Lola, who is his opposite. Lola was born a man and has transcended gender to become female. Eads has two female-to-males whom he regards as his "sons." The camera crosses the various divides to examine day to day lives and Eads' losing struggle against cancer. There is one last mission in his life, apart from nurturing his love for Lola. It is speaking before the Atlanta convention of the Southern Comfort organization of those who have crossed gender barriers. The convention itself is an occasion that indicates how extensive cross-gender transformation is.
Sensitively and intelligently, "Southern Comfort" moves beyond society's prejudices and examines its subject in a respectful and moving manner that makes an audience see the individuals we meet as persons who have a right to live according to their feelings and decisions. Some may be wary of such a film, but once you are in the sure hands of director Davis, you will be led into a world with which you will connect. Admittedly, there are times when you may tire of Eads and his Lola talking about their love, but the emotional stakes are very high for them and one can understand why they repeatedly want to affirm who they are why they feel as they do. The film, which won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Festival, is very touching and also very sad in view of Eads' fate, but above all it is illuminating and stands as an impassioned plea against discrimination. An HBO Theatrical Documentary presentation.
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