(2023, 119 min)
Country: United States
Director: Craig Bettendorf
Studio: Craig Bettendorf
Language: English
SYNOPSIS: If the inspiration for the Da Vinci Code's Robert Langdon were drawn from a single living person, John Boswell would have been the one. Boswell read and translated fourteen ancient and modern languages and became a Yale Professor by age thirty and were granted full access to the highly classified and restricted Vatican archives from which he researched four award-winning books, making him a world-renowned expert in Medieval History and Linguistics.
John Boswell was also openly Gay without apology in an era that was neither tolerant nor accepting. NOT A TAME LION offers the first-hand accounts of Boswell's closest friends, students, colleagues, and family members as they recount his life, his works, and his final days during which he feverishly worked to complete SAME-SEX UNIONS IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE a book that changed the trajectory of the Marriage Equality debate, all while privately battling the debilitating effects of AIDS which led to his death on December 24th, 1994 at the age of forty-seven./P>
REVIEW:
John Boswell is an extraordinary personality, not only within the LGBTQ+ community but in general. In his brief life, the American historian wrote a total of 4 books, which usually equated sexuality with faith, and made a strong case for homosexuality as a norm that, according to his extensive research, dated back to medieval times. Craig Bettendorf’s “Not a Tame Lion” is a humble attempt to capture the essence of this extraordinary life, but in spite of its best efforts, this visually inept documentary fails to really commemorate Boswell.
Recounting one of the many icons of LGBTQ+ history, “Not a Tame Lion” introduces us to John Boswell as the possible inspiration for Robert Langdon, the main character in the infamous books by Dan Brown. It proceeds towards the usual interview format that we have seen in documentaries that recount a life. It gives us a first-hand account of John Boswell’s closest acquaintances; his early life, his life at Yale, his books, and his final days before he succumbed to death due to AIDS-related complications.
But, since there is little to no video footage of his life, director Craig Bettendorf uses these interviews as his driving force, occasionally intercutting them with interesting documentation, but mostly superimposing the narrative with jarring and odd musical cues, and a repetitive montage of a man with a burning torch entering a cave.
The said montage and the film as a whole are so badly edited that it turns an extraordinary life into a boring reportage that should have been a podcast instead. The filmmaking doesn’t just feel lazy; check out the camera placements for the various interviews that are featured and you will know what I mean, it also feels like it could have been trimmed by at least 30 minutes and it would have left the same impact.
For a film that is talking about an essential and possible turning point in how homosexuality is perceived today and the one that Boswell so dearly fought for, all you are left with is a bad taste of misplaced music. The only high point, and moving aspect of “Not a Tame Lion” comes when Boswell’s sister talks about him and when you see the only footage of Boswell that was available. At least, the clip shows that Boswell had a sense of humor, even in the face of adversities. This documentary has none.
-- Reviewed Shikhar Verma, High On Films (http://www.highonfilms.com/)
