A very good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but, after reading the review on Indiewire, I thought I might as well check it out. First of all, I have to admit that I had never heard of Lacey/Leo Baker before watching this movie but his journey definitely turned out to be quite amazing. I mean, if nothing else, it does show how urgent it is for a trans person to go through their transition if a top athlete decides to let go the most prestigious competition in the world to focus instead on this process. In this case, it was even more historical since it was the first time ever that skateboarding was included in the Olympic Games. But it was something made crystal clear in this movie, Baker was going through hell during his 14 years career as he was constantly handled as a girl, as a female skateboarder, which was something going completely against who he actually was. Even for a supposedly ‘cool’ sport like skateboarding, it does seem to be a major issue but can you imagine how it must be in the more mainstream sports? For example, in football (or soccer), it is extremely rare that a professional player will come out as gay. Furthermore, even after leaving the competition, Leo still managed to keep skateboarding probably in a much more satisfying way and such opportunities would probably not be available in many other sports. Still, it doesn’t diminish the fact that his journey was just so impressive and so inspiring. I mean, at some point, he was one of the best female skateboarders in the world and, even if he might have hated this label, the pressure coming from everywhere to keep delivering whatever they were asking for was just huge. Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a really strong documentary and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

8/10