Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos examine what it means to be trans and specifically a trans boy, a group of people with a frighteningly high rate of suicide and suicide attempts.
I am going to keep this review brief. My reasoning for doing so is that this film was not made for me. While the film is trying to explain what it's like to be trans to the world, that is not it's strength. Its strength is something else entirely. I say that because how I reacted to this film as straight male is not how it is going to play to a kid or an adult who is trans. What I think of the film is not remotely important, as opposed to what the trans kids think.
What I believe the strength of WHAT WILL I BECOME is that it is a beacon of hope. The strength is not in how the film is made or what it is saying to the regular world, the strength and importance is in the fact that the film lets trans kids know that there is hope and there is life and there are people out there who will be there for you. I say that because watching the film I kept being struck by the fact that if I was kid looking for something to hang on to, discovering this film would have kept me going. Its a film that lets them know that there are people out there just like you.
Nomally when I cover a festival and I see a film is produced by a major outlet, like Independent Lens, I take a step back because that outlet will get the film seen. However this time out I love that the film will be on Independent Lens because not only will it be seen when it runs on PBS, it will end up on their website where the people who need to see it can. It will be there in plain site and perhaps late one night someone who needs to see this can watch in their room, on their phone and find life.
What I think of WHAT WILL I BECOME as a film means nothing- all you need to know is that this film will change lives, give hope and most importantly keep people alive.
Bravo.
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