The Jaundiced Eye

Nonny de la Peņa's documentary focuses on the kind of small-town justice in which people see exactly what they want or expect to see; in this case, that a homosexual man and his entire family must be child molesters. both Stephen Matthews, who "came out" while married, and his father Melvin, a God-fearing heterosexual bait salesman, were sentenced to 18-35 years in prison for allegedly molesting Stephen's five-year-old son (Stephen's mother narrowly escaped a similar sentence). The only real evidence against them was a child's testimony (which the movie effectively deconstructs as the result of improper interrogation techniques) and a highly suspect Chlamydia test. It's telling that the harshest accusers in the case (the mother, the boy's stepdad, and the boy himself, 10 years later) declined to participate fully with the filmmaker, and seem more angry that Stephen is gay than at any other possible offense. Certainly Stephen and his father as shown on-screen do not seem capable of the crimes with which they were charged (in spite of absolutely no physical evidence), which include anally raping the child with a machete. The camera follows them through repeated tragedies toward a final triumph, in which the verdict is overturned when an incarcerated Stephen takes matters into his own hands and goes over the case himself. Throughout, direct de la Peņa weaves together a taut, heartfelt, and often shocking view of the double standard homosexuals still face in the heartland (in this case, Michigan), and even manages time for the rare moments of humor and beauty that can be found amidst such hatred and persecution. (L.Y.T.) Opens Saturday at Laemmle's Grande.