Transamerica (2005)

To get me refreshed for the next year, I decided to take a complete break from my mundane lifestyle. It was a going to be a long weekend for me so I decided to pick 7 DVDs from various genres ranging from fantasy to realism to horror. Some of them could hardly make it to my favorites list but this one did. It’s called Transamerica (released in 2005) which was released in 2005 starring Felicity Huffman in the lead role. Before I go any further, I must applaud Felicity’s performance and rate it as one of the best I have seen in American cinema. She deserved something more precious than just an OSCAR for the same.

Sabrina “Bree” Osbourne is a transsexual woman living in Los Angeles and making a living out of telemarketing. One day she receives a call from a 17 year old called Toby Wilkins (Kevin Zegers) who’s interested to know the whereabouts of his father Stanley Schupak (Bree’s former name). Bree is caught unaware by this shocking news and decides to ignore it completely. But under pressure from her therapist who refuses to sign the papers necessary for a vaginoplasty surgery, Bree decides to face her past life and sets off to New York to find Toby. Posing as a catholic missionary (from the “church of the potential father”), she realizes her son has become a male hustler and sells drugs on the streets of the metropolis to make a living. Bree bails him out of the jail and decides to take him to his step father who would take care of him while she would be free to undergo her surgery back in LA; most critical for her existence in this world. Things don’t go as planned and they head back to LA by road, a journey that would unravel the challenging past and chart a new course in their lives for the future.

It’s time to get sensitized and change our world view towards gender bias and prejudice. Transamerica gives us an insight into the mind of a parent who despite lacking an identity and the respect in the society herself, feels strongly for the same about her son and wants him to get his place in the real world without further disappointments. Dolly Parton sings ‘Travelin’ Thru’, a wonderful song which she performed LIVE at the 78th Annual Academy Awards ceremony and was nominated for Best music (had she won, she would have become the first country artist to win an Oscar). Felicity Huffman was also nominated for her performance in the Best Actress category. Just one simple question we ask ourselves after the show is over – why are they calling Transamerica a comedy?