The film Moonlight brings about questions of racial identity, sexual identity, poverty, addiction and much more. We see Chiron grow from a small child to a teenage boy to an adult man. In the beginning, Chiron is depicted as a small, quiet child who is alone in the world with few friends. Luckily, he is taken under the wing of Juan and Theresa, a couple who finds Chiron in a drug house after running from bullies. Juan takes Chiron under his wing, feeding him, teaching him how to swim and allowing his home to be a “safe haven” for Chiron. Unfortunately, Chiron does not have a safe home life. His mother is facing drug addiction (and she buys her drugs from Juan) and treats Chiron with contempt because he is attracted to men (but he doesn’t know it at this point in the film). We see Chiron grow to be a teenage boy who is bullied and eventually retaliates in the classroom, then taken to juvie. After this, we see Chiron as an adult man, who is now a drug dealer, following the footsteps of Juan, but now, Chiron is much more confident in himself. In the end, he sees a friend from high school, the only man who he has ever allowed to touch him.

I find Moonlight to be an extremely powerful film in its beauty and message conveyed. Unlike most films, this one shows more than it explicitly tells. No matter how many times I watch this movie I cry and find myself just as impacted as before. I believe this is because it is a harsh confrontation of the many injustices so many people in the world face. We see Chiron who is just a young boy, have life fail him again and again while he struggles to confront his own identity. The film does a beautiful job of showing how the world often gives people a “single story”, and flips it on its head. We see Juan, who is a drug dealer, but the movie shows him as the most humane and caring individual for Chiron (along with Theresa). We see Chiron’s mother, struggling with addiction and taking money from her son while making him depend on himself when mothers are typically those who take care of us the most. Most prominently, we see Chiron, a man who is attracted to other men, completely defying stereotypes and growing up to be a “hard” (as he describes himself) drug dealer.

Throughout the class we’ve discussed the many different ideas of “identity” which I feel this film does so well. I could continue to go on about many of the themes. Moonlight brings to light the very realistic lives of individuals. I think that’s what makes the film so raw and impactful. It shows that identity is who you chose yourself to be, not who your “roles”, “classifications”, or “titles” define you as. Each character in the film has a trait that directly defies who they are “supposed to be” in line with their stereotype and title.