By: Alyssa Macpherson

Introduction:

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Reelout queer film + video festival in Kingston, Ontario to watch one of their feature films. The film I chose to watch was The Garden Left Behind directed by Flavio Alves. 

About This Film:

The Garden Left Behind is centred around a young trans woman named Tina Carrera who lives with her grandmother in New York City. The film sheds light upon the daily challenges Tina faces including her identity, her love life, the hatred she receives, and the struggles of being an undocumented immigrant. Throughout the film, Tina struggles to find herself and to fit in as a trans woman who has not yet fully transitioned. Tina finds comfort and purpose with members of a “Trans Lives Matter” social movement and begins to feel accepted and worthy, despite confusion and negativity towards the cause from both her grandmother and the man she loves. This film takes us through Tina’s life and her physical and monetary struggle to transition and to be happy with both her life and herself. Due to many setbacks, Tina starts to feel defeated, which does not go unnoticed by a young man who has been closely observing Tina from afar. 

My Opinion:

In my opinion, The Garden Left Behind was an extremely powerful and memorable film. Many important topics were discussed in great detail and as the audience, we were all left with many strong feelings after watching it. This film was certainly heavy and had mature content within it which I felt was ultimately why the film was so powerful. There was a disclaimer and a trigger warning given before the film began along with a brief introduction by the Reelout employees. This prepared the audience for what they were about to watch and ensured no one would be shocked or surprised by the nature of the film. This was very important as the subjects and events of the film dealt with many touchy subjects that could easily make viewers feel uncomfortable and upset.`

One aspect of the film that really stood out to me and that I felt was very impactful was the way in which numerous social issues and ideas were tackled at once. This movie is primarily based around the struggles trans individuals face each day however that was definitely not the only topic that was addressed. The subjects of immigration and race along with poverty and unemployment played vital roles in this film. The intersectionality that The Garden Left Behind expressed was extremely useful and vital to really understand the struggles that the characters were facing. It showed the “multiple levels of discrimination” (Kaufman 2018) that these women were facing not only from being trans, but due to their race, gender, and class as well. The intersectionality in this film made it a lot more applicable to the real world and greatly enhanced its relevance. The intersectional variety in this film was very powerful and made the overall message and meaning immensely impactful to all viewers. 

One of the major subjects in The Garden Left Behind were protests and social movements. Especially in popular areas such as New York City, social movements are very common and effective at voicing opinions on serious topics. The march and social movement in this film was the “Trans Lives Matter” movement. This movement focuses on the unfair and unjust treatment the trans community faces from police in their daily life. They encouraged the fact that “gender is socially constructed”, (Raskoff 2017) and that they should not need to be cisgender to be treated fairly by police. These social movements are a powerful way to stand up for what you believe in and by including them in this film, it demonstrates the reality of the work that many activists put in to try to make a difference. The other people involved with the social movement in the film also helped Tina feel like she fit in and she found people that understood how she constantly felt. “The Trans Lives Matter” group provided Tina with the stability and assurance she desperately needed to feel worthy and important. The importance of friends in this context and an inclusive environment is something I feel is extremely important for all people. Friends make you feel worthy and valid and you can be yourself around them without the fear of being judged. This film did an excellent job of portraying the importance of having friends to lean on for support and reassurance and proved that no matter what, there’s always people there that care about you. Knowing that you are never alone is a very important message to get across to the audience especially youth as they find themselves and as mental illness and self-doubt are extremely prevalent to that age group. 

Another aspect of the film I found extremely interesting was the fear and embarrassment that was demonstrated towards Tina and other trans people. Tina’s boyfriend Jason, who she was with for the beginning of the movie, refused to go out in public with her and acted ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with her at all. He seemed to enjoy the sexual aspects of their relationship but nothing more. He slowly distanced himself from Tina due to his binary thinking and the idea that he did not fit into the typical “man” role. There was also a young boy named Chris, who watched Tina from a far and slowly seemed to fall in love with her. After being exposed to his transphobic and cisgender friends, when he finally came face to face with Tina, he acted out of rage and hatred towards her, instead of showing her his real feelings. He seemed to genuinely hate himself for falling in love with her and due to his friends opinions, he felt trapped and embarrassed. This truly shows the stigma associated with trans people in society as Chris felt so trapped and confused due to feeling it was wrong for loving someone who was not cisgender. 

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I felt The Garden Left Behind was a powerful and touching film that tackled numerous important social issues present in today’s society. I felt the film did an excellent job depicting the thoughts and feelings of both members of the trans community and others looking in. After watching this film, everyone is guaranteed to feel many powerful emotions that will leave them with a new understanding of the challenges and struggles many face in their everyday lives. 

Word count: 1085

Works Cited:

Kaufman, Peter. “Intersectionality for Beginners.” Everyday Sociology, https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2018/04/intersectionality-for-beginners.html#more