Some documentaries thrive because of the savvy filmmakers behind them; others get by on provocative subject material. In the latter category is CHICKENHAWK: MEN WHO LOVE BOYS, a haphazardly edited film about NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association), the notorious self-described
civil rights organization that advocates the legalization of consensual sex between adult men and underage boys.
CHICKENHAWK begins by intercutting talking-head interviews with several prominent NAMBLA members, and then settles down to provide brief portraits of three of the most widely publicized child-love advocates, Peter Melzer, Leyland Stevenson, and Renato Corazzo. Melzer, a high school teacher
suspended for his links to the controversial group, says he has never broken the law; merely advocating pederasty, he points out, is constitutionally protected free speech. But as he gazes forlornly from a balcony overlooking a school playground, he adds, "I feel like Moses overlooking the
promised land but unable to enter."
Far more provocative is Stevenson, a former missionary who has brought religious fervor to his new calling. Filmed trying to chat up a teenager in West Virginia, Stevenson is unabashed about his quest for boys, even recounting one underage tryst in ecstatic terms. During his on-camera
proselytizing, it becomes apparent that he interprets virtually any social interaction with boys as a sexual flirtation. Soft-spoken NAMBLA hotline operator Renato Corazzo also cuts a compelling figure, especially as the bullhorn blasts of anti-NAMBLA activists accuse him of being a baby-raper.
Interspersed with film of these central characters are interviews with prominent critics of the group, as well as footage of a Gay Pride march in Washington, D.C., where NAMBLA members are berated and ostracized by mainstream activists, and Allen Ginsberg, who reads a homoerotic poem.
Director Adi Sideman, who began his documentary as an NYU film school project, says he was interested in the free-speech issues raised by NAMBLA's platform, but the issues that drive NAMBLA--age of consent laws, free speech, thought crime, and child abuse--are never very clearly articulated.
While Sideman has done a good job ferreting out raw material, his organizational skills leave much to be desired. As characters flash by unidentified, time and place are allowed to blur, and CHICKENHAWK emerges as a cluttered, often perplexing, affair. In the end, Sideman's film portrays most
NAMBLA members as harmless free speakers and wishful thinkers. Too bad he fails to delve a little deeper, asking, for instance, what happens to all those well-loved 12-year-olds once they turn 21. leave a comment
