15 Devastating Documentaries That Mustn't Be Ignored

10. Valentine Road (Marta Cunningham, 2013)

Homophobia is something that we should have outgrown years ago as a species, but the sad fact is that the news is full of examples of it, most recently the outcry against Russia's intolerance leading up to their hosting of the Winter Olympics. Valentine Road is a more personal example and one that never made international news, but pulled at the heart of the people of Oxnard, California just a few years ago. In early 2008, eighth-grade student, Brandon McInerney, shot his classmate, Larry King, dead as fellow students watched on during first period. Larry, an openly gay boy and known cross-dresser, had embarrassed Brandon the day previously by asking him to be his valentine in the playground, in front of his friends. The film studies his psychological state and motives for committing such a heinous act and as the details of these young men's lives are revealed, we realise that both have similar traumatic upbringings and that Brandon's may have had a profound influence on his actions that day. Played to the chords of Macklemore's recent mind broadening song Same Love, this is a study of modern homophobia, but also the failings of this generation to the next and how a damaged early life can force children to deal with emotions that are far beyond their comprehension. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHewBW4UocY