By Hiba Akroush and Abdelrahman Fakhry

Edits by Caitlin Ostrowski

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Starting every issue, two-movie junkies Abdelrahman Fakhry and Hiba Akroush will be giving My.Kali’s readers an insight on LGBTI+ movies and films through their non-spoiling reviews. All the movies and films on this list are available to watch for free online. In this issue, they bring us 5 of the most iconic LGBTI+ films that must be screened/watched. Enjoy their picks for this issue, and anticipate their upcoming lists.

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Philadelphia (1993) Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a homosexual lawyer infected with AIDS. He gets fired from his firm when they find out about his illness, so he decide to sue them for discrimination using the help of Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), a homophobic attorney with a history of professional rivalry with Andrew Beckett. The movie is based on a true story, making it more impactful. The movie also manages to engage the audience by making audience members truly feel invested in the protagonist’s battle in the courtroom and with his fatal disease.

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)Based on a short story with the same title, this film tells the love story of a homosexual, sporadic affair over the course of 20 years between a rodeo cowboy (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a ranch hand (Heath Ledger). The film tells about their relationship, and how it casts shadows on their domestic life in Wyoming in the conservative early sixties. The story has imagery and sensations that offer an interesting depiction of a life full of secrets, stress, and fear due to lack of understanding from society and personal beliefs.

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Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013)This three hour movie is a coming of age story that you never want to end. It’s about a teenage girl, Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos), who falls in love and begins a relationship with a college student named Emma (Lea Seydoux). It shows the life of Adele and how she grows, explores, and turns into an adult. One cannot write a review about this film and not talk about the rather too long sex scenes. Indeed this could have been the reason behind a lot of finger pointing. I found the scenes a bit long, but they were real, raw, and filled with emotions. The sex scenes combined with the emotional intensity of the dialog made this a good movie.

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The Normal Heart (2014)
This film is about the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the eighties. It shows how, at that time, the disease only affected gay men so nothing was being done to help cure it. The film moved me to tears several times because of the sad love story. It also moved me because it’s an emotional portrayal of the struggle within a gay community surviving an epidemic while still trying to challenge a culture that is oppressing it. There are so many great scenes with great acting, particularly by Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer and Julia Roberts. This is one of the good scenes translated into Arabic:


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The Danish Girl (2015)

Inspired by the lives of Danish artists, this touching movie tells the story of the first person to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), a Danish painter, has been married to a fellow-artist, Gerda (Alicia Vikander) for six years. Gradually he becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming a woman, which leads him to submit to new medical procedures. The best thing about this movie is Eddie Redmayne. His facial expressions and movements show how perfectly he grasped and portrayed the psychological conditions of Einar. I believe he should have won another Oscar for this role! However, some of the characters are one dimensional, but overall the movie is worth watching.

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You have a suggestions for Abdelrahman Fakhry and Hiba Akroush? Movies and films to review? You can either tweet us (here) or contact us (here)