Susan Granger’s review of “Tying the Knot” (Roadside Attractions)
Unlike Michael Moore’s highly politicized “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Jim De Seve’s documentary examines a hot-button issue that seemingly divides the American people – same-sex marriage – and draws on experts to set the contemporary debate within a cultural and historical context. Presenting the point-of-view that the deliberation over marriage equality is a civil rights issue, as opposed to a choice of lifestyle or values, it delves deeply into two personal stories. In Florida, the union of two police officers was obviously accepted; home movies from 1991 show a religious ceremony uniting the lesbians, dressed in matching tuxedos. Yet when one was killed in 2001, the other was afforded spousal burial honors but denied spousal pension benefits. In Oklahoma, when his partner of 22 years died, a gay man was denied the ranch they shared that was specifically bequeathed to him. The case rested on a technicality, a missing third signature, but an cousin was allowed to claim the property and sue the survivor for back rent. Historian EJ Graff shows how economics, not love, determined marriage for thousands of years. Only since the Industrial Revolution, in fact, has affection led to wedlock. In rebuttal, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, condemns homosexual partnerships, along with Congressman Bob Barr, and President George Bush advocates a Constitutional Ammendment barring same-sex marriage. What’s most impressive are the many historical and legal parallels to the fight for interracial marriage in America. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tying the Knot” is an ironic, powerful 8, delving beneath the bluster and bigotry to explore what the institution of marriage really means within the context of today’s society.
