Tongues United

A Marlon Rigg film            

         

           “Tongues United” is an autobiographical peformative documentary chronicling filmmaker Marlon Riggs’ journey towards finding his identity as a gay black man. Riggs shows this through reenactment, prose, poetry, song, rap, wordplay, dance, and first person narrative all cut together to give the viewer a look into the life of an African-American gay man. Most of the film has Riggs directly facing the camera in a mid shot or close up against a black background. The most emotional scene for me was the one where Riggs recalls his childhood and the homophobic taunts he endured. The camera cuts rapidly from extreme close ups of mouths swearing insults and then back to Riggs’ face. Then scene then ends on just his pained eyes. Emotional scenes like these are intercut with lighter, humorous sequences, which offer a look into black gay life and common stereotypes. My favorite was “Snapthology,” which was like an instructional video on how to successfully finger snap. I couldn’t help but try the different snaps, however, then you realize that this skill has most likely development as a form of defense against the hostile culture these men have to endure on a daily basis. “Tongues United” is a controversial, yet brilliant and highly political look a racism and homophobia in United States. Through this perfomative piece Riggs is able to capture the emotions of the viewer and let them see a little into the life of a black gay man. It was definitely an eye opener.