[rating=8.00]
For all the talk in certain circles about the prevalence of transgender issues in popular culture, the truth is that cinematic depictions of transgender identity aren’t exactly common. There are outliers, sure, but even the films that get attention are mired in controversy for their casting of cisgender actors and actresses to portray transgender characters. The result is a painful inauthenticity that skirts the edges of the real issues and often fails to present the reality.
The Garden Left Behind, the debut feature from Flavio Alves, offers a uniquely raw portrayal of transgender identity on top of an exploration of the problems affecting undocumented immigrants. With an almost verité approach to the subject he takes us face to face with the realities facing these two communities. Alves adds some much needed context to the discussion with his powerful narrative.
Carlie Guevara plays Tina, a young transgender woman trying to navigate the complex structure of transition while living in New York City as an undocumented immigrant. On the one hand she tries to live as a young and carefree woman but, on the other, the stresses of her day to day existence—work, family, relationships, discrimination—pile against her. Can she make it through her struggles to grow into her perfect self?
The odds against Tina are astronomically high. We’re coming off the deadliest year for American transgender people in history, the majority of victims being women of color—all but one of the over two dozen transgender murders last year were women of color—and that’s not a reality Alves shies away from in The Garden Left Behind. Throughout the film, the looming threat of violence is never far from Tina’s life, building with a slow intensity that’s almost unbearable to watch.
As hard as it might be to sit through as audience member, that’s nothing compared to the reality of living with it for real. Alves and Guevara capture this perfectly, giving us a small taste of what that level of anxiety might be like, even though it could never reach the level as it would in life.
Beyond that, its fearless look at the realities of transition make The Garden Left Behind a unique and powerful cinematic statement. The costs of the procedure—from the financial to the psychological and social—are carefully represented here and offer an intimately human exploration of a truth too many of us would rather ignore.
While the film at times feels heavy handed, it’s important to consider that it fucking should be. These are stories and narratives that need to be told, that need to be heard, and that need to be seen. The realities of these situations are heavy and can’t afford to be treated with kid gloves.
Alves has crafted an important film that tells the kinds of stories that movies about transgender women never seem to want to tell. It is an honest, brave depiction of reality that deserves to be seen and considered as these conversations continue to happen in our culture.
