No matter how well-intended or well-meaning a movie is, it must contain solid entertainment value to succeed.  Be it great writing, acting, cinematography, music or other element, a movie must offer audiences something other than platitudes and nobility for it to be truly effective.  Boy Erased is a very well-meaning movie about the danger and hypocrisy of “conversion therapy,” and, to its credit, it has quite a bit to offer discerning audiences.

Joel Edgerton’s film jumps right into Jared Eamons’ plight.  Jared (Lucas Hedges) is a teenager being forced into conversion therapy by his father Marshall, a Baptist minister who cannot stand the thought that his son might be gay.  Counselor Victor Sykes (Edgerton) has a class full of boys whose parents want them to be set straight — literally.  Ultimately Jared finds that he cannot just play along, pretending to be “cured,” and forces a confrontation and withdrawal from the program.  Backed by his mother (Nicole Kidman), Jared finally takes a stand and gradually comes to terms with who he really is.

The film is, first and foremost, an indictment of conversion therapy, wherein participants are expected to renounce homosexuality and lesbianism, and tactics like bullying, peer pressure and, in some cases, abuse, are employed to persuade the young men and women the supposed error of their ways.  The film’s epilogue notes that thirty-six states still allow conversion therapy to be practiced, even though its evils are widespread and widely known.  Jared actually forces his way out of the program before it becomes really bad for him, but other teens are not so lucky, as the film depicts.  Jared’s experiences are based on a true story; even if that were not so, the film feels patently authentic and disturbing.  It ends on a hopeful note, however, and that rings true as well.

This story is very well acted and directed.  It could have used more energy throughout, however, because most of the characters are sublimating their real feelings most of the time.  It could also have used better lighting; key scenes are so dim it is hard to tell exactly what is going on.  Director Edgerton tries to keep the story’s nobility factor in check; he enacts the key role of the misguided counselor, trying to force people to abandon their basic senses of self for traditional gender roles and behaviors.  Whatever one’s feelings about this material, Boy Erased presents a compelling glimpse into what really occurs during conversion therapy and the dramatic, lifelong effects that it has on the young people forced to participate.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  20 December 2018.