By Ms. Lee Etscovitz, Ed.D.
This internationally acclaimed, award-winning film deals with a subject that, at least until recently, has been shrouded in mystery and controversy, namely, transsexualism. But films such as this one help significantly to dispel such mystery and to place any controversy in a truly human context. Moreover, the whole film is not only artistically constructed but also very informative, helping the viewer to understand the transsexual phenomenon in terms of two males becoming females and one female becoming a male.
The presentation traces the emergence of these three transsexuals on two levels: the physical or outer level and the psychological or inner level. It is the inner aspect of it all which sets this film apart from so many others, an aspect captured, but certainly not overstated, by the title itself: "The Blank Point." In fact, it is the understated portrayal of all three transsexuals that paradoxically makes such a strong impact on the viewer.
We are led from beginning to end on a journey into the fullness of life as experienced by each of the three transsexuals. That fullness truly emerges for each of them upon facing a blank point in their lives when, simply put, life has no meaning. That blankness, that despair, is the beginning of a self-realization process which, in essence, is the journey of each of these, and perhaps most, transsexuals. The film's flow of concrete yet creative imagery reveals a poetic sensitivity to this human struggle, a struggle of both body and soul. There is far less mystery, and perhaps far less controversy, when this film ends. Rather, life has been faced head-on, and that life now includes three persons who have helped us to understand the meaning of courage on its deepest and most human level.
© 1996 by Human Dimensions