Children of God

"Rosie O'Donnell vs. the Bahamas" may seem like the ultimate B-movie but such was the level of hysteria caused by her gay family cruise ship in the Caribbean in 2004 that you half-expect her to rise Godzilla-like from the ocean depths and lay waste to the islands.

Bahamam writer/director Kareem Mortimer follows several characters impacted by the deeply ingrained homophobia she ignited. A failing art student finds love and inspiration in the arms of a more uninhibited local, while the wife of a frighteningly homophobic anti-gay activist is forced to face some ugly home truths.

In a sense there's nothing hugely original, but the Caribbean setting and characters make everything new again. Most interesting is the almost meta-textual conflict between the Disneyesque white middle class gay utopia represented by O'Donnell and parroted by so many American LGBT features, and the reality, good and bad, Mortimer depicts. His unflinching willingness to look at the real world charges the film and gives it power. [Scotty McKellar]