Boy Erased [DVD]

I was prepared to hate this film for personal reasons but became enamored along the way. This is some EXCELLENT fusion of Top-Notch talent. A film with something to offer everyone. A rare treat indeed!

I knew nothing about this movie beforehand, and ended up really enjoying it. Many people are affected by family and religious situations like this and I’m glad to see it addressed in a true story movie with great actors.

Alternately, I was mad or sad throughout most of this movie. But, given the subject matter, I hope most people would feel similarly. It is a slice of life drama with no special effects, and the story held my interest. I haven't watched the Special Features yet, but out-takes and a few others are on the DVD.I thought both the acting and directing were good. Maybe a movie such as this has the power to change a few minds. At least, I hope so.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's. I was surrounded by homophobia basically my whole life.I thank God above, I had the strength and sense, NOT to listen to people telling me I was wrong and NOT change who I am.This film is poignant, thoughtful and infuriating at the same time.The lengths straight people will do to make themselves feel better and safe.Excellent film and worth the investment.Be still my beating heart. Joel Edgerton is brilliant.

The acting performances of the four major players were superb and very realistic. The story is one that has been happening, in various ways for hundreds of years and is still happening due to the ignorance of the various churches and their teachings. You cannot turn a homosexual into a heterosexual any more than you can turn a heterosexual into a homosexual. That is an absolute fact. The torment and punishments inflicted upon the unfortunate gay person are, to say the least, barbaric and may cause a mental illness that may lead to suicide, and the victim is sometimes the son of a 'so-called' man of the faith, or a God fearing adherent of a particular religion. this story is a very sad one, but not as sad as the real life stories, some of which I have been witness to. I can't say I 'enjoyed' this film, but I was incredibly moved to tears by it, and I would recommend it to every parent and every person involved in any religion. The pain and mental torment inflicted upon a 'victim' in one of these circumstances is downright hateful.

Compassionate, filled with sincerity as this compelling memoir about Garrard's struggle with his sexual orientation while growing up in an ultra-religious, Baptist family in the South.Though he tells his story in a consistent personal narrative style, Conley connects his journey to the pain many LGBT’s, minorities, and religions endure.As he writes about undergoing ex-gay conversion therapy. I’m not sure if this hit home as I too was a victim of forced institutionalization by my own parents who are fundamentalist born-again’s.Personally, watch. Furthermore I felt something was missing that I can't quite put my finger on. If you can, please share.~ Dennis SchleicherAuthor of "Is He Nuts?: Why a Gay Man Would Become a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ"

I was Garrard Conley's philosophy professor. He began taking classes with me a few months after his experience at the gay conversion "camp." He took my two-semester class in the "Western Intellectual Tradition" and then took four more classes on Greek tragedy and Aristotle, Plato, and Recent Scholarship on Plato. I took Garrard to New York City. We went to Greenwich Village and ate at the Stonewall Cafe. He loved New York, "This is my city, Dr. Beck," he said, before we even got to the official city limits. While at the cafe, he was surprised when first the waiter "hit on me" and then the piano player. I said, "Well, Garrard, you're cute. Why wouldn't they?" He was really happy. We were both preacher's kids. We compared our parents to the characters in Greek tragedies: they all had good intentions and made mistakes. I tried to be the older mentor and to encourage him to learn to forgive (one of Aristotle's virtues). After Lyon, I recommended him for the Peace Corps in Ukraine. He stayed an extra year and started a non-profit that educated people about AIDS. Ten years after graduating, he returned to receive our "Ten Year Award." I asked him if he intended for the book and the movie to portray his parents a well-intentioned but tragic characters. "Of course, Dr. Beck," he replied. When I saw the movie, the scene where his mother finally started questioning the credentials of the leader was the point at which I started to weep. Garrard has also worked hard on four podcasts called "Boy Unerased." They are named after all the tragic characters connected to these "camps." "Garrard and the Book of Job," "The Motherbears" (women like his mother who were conservative Christians, had gay kids, and changed their minds), "Dr. Davis," about a psychology professor at USC who changed his mind, and "Schmid," the guy who ran the camp who is gay and also changed his mind. Garrard has tried so hard to use his experience to create a bond of empathy between people who can so easily get polarized, especially on this issue. He wants all of us to recognize ourselves in these characters: all parents have good intentions for their children, they all make sacrifices so that they children can have a better life, and they all make mistakes, sometimes really serious ones, in the pursuit of that goal. I hope people who see the movie and read the book will use the story to understand what Southern Baptist parents in rural Arkansas have in common with parents in big cities around the world. The first step to authoritarianism is the polarization of the citizens. When the citizens cannot get along, an authoritarian personality claims he has to take control. We need to avoid this (or avoid making it worse). It was my privilege to have Garrard as a student. I hope we keep this message in our minds and hearts moving forward into the next election and beyond.