"Outrage"

By David Hudson on 05/08/2009

[Updated through 5/13]

"Director Kirby Dick doesn't actually stick his camera under any Capitol Hill bathroom stalls in the new documentary 'Outrage,' but his goal is more or less the same: to catch conservative, family-values politicians with their pants down." Scott Foundas in the Voice: "Armed with a chorus of incriminating voices from across the alternative press and the corridors of state and federal government, Dick sets out to spill the beans on gay elected officials living in the closet. Call it yellow (or is that pink?) journalism if you must, but as 'Outrage' persuasively argues, it comes not to invade its subjects' personal lives, but instead hold them accountable for their hypocrisy. It outs so that it can, in turn, rage against these Janus-faced men of the people (and they are all white men) who play to their Christian conservative base while lobbying for another sort of approval in gay bars, chat rooms, and public toilets."

"Its accusations of hypocrisy and betrayal are pointed and in many cases persuasive, but they would have sounded different - more urgent, and perhaps more incendiary - a few years or even six months ago," finds AO Scott in the New York Times. "With each passing day that brilliant conspiracy looks increasingly tattered and beleaguered, and the men at the center of it seem less fearsome than pathetic."

"Dick has zeroed in on abuses of power in previous documentaries like 'Twist of Faith,' in which he went after the Catholic Church, and 'This Film Is Not Yet Rated,' in which his target was the Motion Picture Association of America," writes Dan Zak in the Washington Post. "With 'Outrage,' he outs Capitol Hill as one giant glass closet that has perpetuated discrimination for too long." The film is "sad and serious. It synthesizes and sources decades of supposition. It bemoans missed opportunities wrought by deceptive politics. It laments the violence faced by gay teens because an older, more powerful generation refuses to relinquish righteousness for rightness. And it has a dreadful logic to it: If our leaders aren't true to themselves, how can they possibly be true to us?"

"Dick breaks no new ground, but 'Outrage' builds what must be the most damning profile yet on current Florida Governor Charlie Crist Jr, spoken of as a serious presidential contender for 2012," notes Joshua Rothkopf in Time Out New York. "Airline travel to exotic locales with a male aide is documented; an ex-girlfriend pleads no comment but promises a scoop 'in ten years.' And here's Crist getting married to a statuesque brunet. A door closes them from view. 'Outrage' isn't after punitive embarrassment, but the gloves definitely come off."

"In 'Outrage,' the entire political culture of Washington DC is both gay and closeted; without gays, the wheels of government would grind to a halt, argues one interviewee." Nathan Rabin at the AV Club: "Another posits the nation's capitol as just as gay as San Francisco, if not more so.... Dick understands the old maxim to show rather than tell: the visual contrast between the ease and comfort of out politicians like [former New Jersey governor James] McGreevey [pictured], Tammy Baldwin and the devastatingly blunt and witty Barney Frank and the flopsweat-soaked, panicky denials of closeted, gay-unfriendly politicians (Larry Craig, cough, cough) makes Dick's case about the devastating psychological costs of staying in the closet."

"[O]ne of the startling aspects of the film is how little seems to have changed since 1980," notes Andrew O'Hehir, introducing his interview with Dick for Salon. "Dick argues, in fact, that the political closet has grown more oppressive in recent years, largely thanks to the Republican Party's fervent embrace of anti-gay policies, which has sent lesbian and gay conservatives scurrying for cover."

"The movie closes with an old clip of slain politician and activist Harvey Milk arguing that if all gay people come out of the closet, 'we win,'" writes Eric Kohn in Moving Pictures. "But without suggesting a means of altering the environment so that could ever take place, Outrage succeeds merely as an expression of its titular emotion, rather than an answer to it."

"An amazing Q&A session followed the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of 'Outrage'... Instead of the usual self-congratulatory asskissing in question form, the choir that Dick preaches to through his hot-topics docs nearly rebelled.There was genuine inquiry about Dick's facile, scattershot methods. At a film festival! In gay Chelsea!" The New York Press's Armond White had a grand old time.

David Ehrenstein in the LA Weekly on how things have changed: "Larry Craig got the equivalent of jaywalking ticket for his men's room sexcapades - not the prison sentence or pre-frontal lobotomy faced by gays or yore. Jim McGreevey got The Full Oprah, the deluxe afternoon talk-show crying towel, complete with a book deal for himself and his allegedly unknowing wife. And given that the mainstream media, many of whose reporters (cough Anderson Cooper cough) are reluctant to discuss their so-called 'private lives,' David Dreier, Mitch McConnell and their ilk won't be thrust into the spotlight now aimed squarely at Charlie Crist. Unless they're 'indiscreet.' And in politics, like so much else these days, indiscretion is the better part of YouTube."

For Filmmaker, Nick Dawson talks with Dick "about his role as an activist filmmaker, the impact he hopes 'Outrage' will have, and the future of documentaries."

Not only does Michael Guillén talk with Dick, he also points out Erika Milvy's interview for the Advocate.

Online listening tips. "Dick joins Fresh Air host Terry Gross to talk about the double lives of closeted politicians and the ethics involved in making their lifestyles public." Also on: Dan Gurley, a former field director for the Republican National Committee who oversaw anti-gay campaigns who now "now works for Equality North Carolina, a statewide group dedicated to securing equal rights and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people."

Earlier: Reviews from Tribeca.

Updates, 5/9: "A quintessential work of muckraking journalism outfitted as a mainstream talking-head documentary, 'Outrage' doesn't lack for nerve," writes Eric Hynes for Reverse Shot. "While most of the film's claims were first reported elsewhere, director Kirby Dick effectively consolidates and champions the grassroots reportage that mainline media habitually ignore, and thus, through the modest power of film distribution, makes further ignorance impossible. Information long relegated to the blogosphere or alternative presses, once deemed irrelevant, indecent, or not newsworthy will suddenly appear, of all places, in a movie review. Covering 'Outrage,' whether for the New York Times, Washington Post, or an otherwise timid local outlet, will mean divulging its revelations. Kirby Dick's new film alleges that Florida Governor Charlie Crist is a closeted homosexual will be written, from a hands-clean remove, and presto - it's news, finally. Dick's dirty work may unsettle some, but he's digging for truth, and truth is always worth the mess."

"Dick relies primarily on the investigative work of others," notes Nick Schager at Screengrab, "whether it be Blogactive's Michael Rogers, who was reportedly instrumental in bringing to light the story of Senator Larry Craig's failed public bathroom stall pick-up, or satellite radio talk-show host Michelangelo Signorelli, who years prior publicized deceased Malcolm Forbes's carefully concealed homosexuality. By letting others do the heavy lifting, the filmmaker comes off as more than a little reticent, a quality in tune with the overall tone of his latest - which repeatedly justifies its modus operandi of outing closeted pols by cogently arguing that hypocrisy can't be tolerated in public officials - and one that prevents it from generating the type of horrified, righteous indignation implied by its title."

Writing in the L Magazine, Simon Abrams finds "Outrage" "much more angry [than 'This Film Is Not Yet Rated'] but woefully less thoughtful in the ideas it espouses."

"[E]ssential viewing," declares Jonathan Curiel in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Alison Willmore talks with Dick "about outing as a political act, Ed Koch and his challenge to fellow documentary makers."

Online viewing tip. David Poland talks with Dick for 30 minutes.

Update, 5/13: "Is there really room in Washington for two gay Republican groups?" asks James Kirchick in the New Republic.

[Photo: "Outrage," Magnolia Pictures, 2009]

Tags: Kirby Dick, Outrage