1:} Conqueror), Richard The Lion Heart and Edward II. Edward and his lover, Gaves- ton, were, in fact, excellent soldiers and were steadfast partners for 13 years who just wanted to enjoy living, not to reign over half of France and keep subduing the Scots and Irish. Edward did marry Is-- abella, daughter of the king of France, and produced four children, including an heir, Edward III. Jarman shows well the loss imposed on Isabella by being unloved by her husband who was merely following his required role. And the burden on their son, Edward III, is shown repeatedly throughout as is the son’s deep anger at his mother for her leading the rebellion against his father and for taking the lead- ing baron plotting against Edward, Mor- timer (Dead Sea), as her lover: the child is transformed into a winsome, earringed Boy—George punk—dancing over a playpen holding Isabella and Mortimer, hierarchy fossilized and captive. Jarman makes the son into a memorable symbol of the im- pact on our children of the cultural wars we parents wage. Jarman adds little to Marlowe’s original story, and that only symbolically, e.g., the well of loneliness, the pool in the castle which Edward II keeps visiting in his times of despair. Instead, Jarman elim- inates much of the tangible detail that makes Marlowe’s play seem realistic, giv- ing us a single—minded focus on the civil war between a status quo of bigotry and a king who was a poor politician. The heavy responsibility of clerics for the use of ho- mophobia is stressed, as exiled Gaveston walks a gauntlet of spitting, cursing priests recalling the torments of Christ as he was prepared to walk to Calvary. These same clerics raised no voice about the notorious adultery of the Queen with Mortimer or the torture deaths of Edward II and of his lover following Gaveston’s death, Hugh le Despenser. By showing this film, Merrill’s offers us in Vermont a privileged look into the historic roots of the civil war still raging in our cul- ture, from the National Endowment for the Arts to Hollywood, where heterosexism has so dominated that, as Jarman says in Pa 5/e/o/21 /Ve// Psychotherapist 66 Main St. (Upstairs) Individual and Group Counseling (802) 388-0933 Middlebury, VT 05753 his recently published book, Queer Ed- ward II, about his film, “there’s hardly room for us to kiss there. Marlowe outs the past — why don’t we out the present.” At opening night for this film on Friday at Merrill’s, a total of six people saw the two showings combined. The word ev- idently has not gotten out what a land- mark film this is and what a limb Mer- rill’s went out to show a film fresh with censor’s tape still attached (yes, unlike Hollywood films where only women can be shown naked, male nudity is shown, including frontal views and a rugby scrum—type dance). Will Burlington let this choice opportunity slip by, wasted? Post Script: The above is whatl submitted to the Free Press. For queer readers, I would also add that this film is very much in the “male” tradition of spectacle-cinema, “fetishizing men’s butts,” in the words of the new filmmaker, William Jones. I will admit that I liked intensely J arman’s attention to the composition of each frame, especially making very prominent the baskets of Li ghtbom and also of Edward as he walks with his brother after squash. However, the tone of male spectacle is its weakness given his choice to set all of it in castlel prison walls (of social construction) since the sense of confinement makes the sense of spectacle fall flat. Perhaps it would have worked better as a more intimate psychological portrait of Edward, Gaves- ton, Isabella and Mortimer drawing on new experimental work inspired by fem- inism, even though Jarman uses dance to represent Edward’s and Gaveston’s erotic fantasies very effectively and clearly strives to be aware of gender inequity, making Isabella into a credible person who has virtues as well as failings and who is wronged by her gay husband who is cenainly not shown to be a saint. In- deed, .Iarman neglected some of the pos- itive record on Piers Gaveston and Ed- ward II: they were reasonably thoughtful men who were good at the essential l4’tl1 century nobleman skills of being a knight.V 66 Ask me how to save If you bring your home and car insurance to All- state, you could receive attractive savings on you Allstate careinsurance policy. Just give me a call about the Allstate Multi-Line Discount. It could really give you a lift. Call Ellen Hetherington - 863-3808 September 1992 on car insurance. Allstate 19