The Plot. Female-born Teena Brandon adopts his male identity of Brandon Teena and attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska.First of all, I'm betting half the good reviews here are phony. So many iuse the same words like "powerful" and "disturbing."The movie is nothing more than an early left wind propaganda piece like The Crying Game and so many pothers. You're supposed to think it's so great because you are expected to embrace the left wing propaganda and march in step.It's rather insulting and not worth your time.

Sorry, but this review is going to be a little haphazard. It also might contain a couple of spoilers! Its been a while since I've seen this movie. Today is December 4, 2017, I just watched the two hour documentary on YouTube from 1998. I am crying as I write this as it brings back memories of seeing the film in 1999. I feel such a connection to Brandon Teena, I am gay as well, except I was born a boy...when he was not...but he should have been.The Police officers involved needed to be punished and tried as well. The officer who interviewed Brandon should be in jail for murder for not arresting John and Tom for raping Brandon. And for the way he conducted the interview. If you haven't seen the real interview, it will probably blow your mind in disgust. There are a few positive things that came out of this tragedy. It brought much needed attention to gay rights, gay bashing, and transgender rights.I just read a couple of other reviews on here. I can see things haven't really changed that much from 1993 when this story took place. Sad. May God have mercy on your souls for such hate.If you haven't seen the movie, stop what you are doing and go watch it. It is a MUST SEE for any decent human being. You will NEVER BE FORGOTTEN BRANDON TEENA, your legacy will live on forever. Rest in peace friend.

I could never watch this film again. Not because it is a bad movie (I think it is superb), but because I would be subjecting myself to the human pain expressed in it one more time. Hillary Swank, who has proved to be one of our best actresses, plays a young woman, biologically, who sees herself a boy and begins to live that sexual role. We don't know for sure what the future is, but we do know that there are people out there that are willing to kill another person over their sexual preferences. Swank plays a heroic person who tries so hard to embrace what a male would be, even to a dangerous level, that the ugly forces of society can't wait to take her down. There are scenes of the most brutal violence I've seen. The film is masterful in its portrayal. Would that it weren't. Swank's complexity of character is the hallmark of this film.

Despite the director/writer good intentions, the movie as a whole turns out to be too muddled : there is no clear line, you just drift inside this group with absolutely no dramatic tension except at the end when everything accelerates tragically. This type of subject must be tackled with grip which isn't the case here, scenes follow each other in a boring monotony and there is a terrible lack of identification with the characters especially Brandon, perfectly embodied by Hillary Swank. After barely 45 minutes, all hope for this real story is lost and the outcome therefore comes off as a great relief for a long and unproductive movie.