2008 Films

In Iran, homosexuality is punishable by death. Transexuality, on the other hand, is not only legal, it is promoted as a “treatment” for gay men and women. In the waiting room of the preeminent sex-change surgeon in Tehran, we encounter young patients who have been forced to see their sexuality as a medical condition to be cured. Their stories bespeak an unsettling post-op reality. One account in particular is so heartbreaking that it transcends the film’s subject entirely, reminding the viewer that the brutality of bigotry is perhaps best revealed when one is encouraged to “be like others.” PB