On BrutX, men discuss masculinity in the post-#MeToo era

“What is a man?” Some giggle, others dodge the question, but for all, the answer is not easy. The London psychotherapist Jerry Hyde has been organising discussion groups for men for more than twenty years. While the #MeToo movement  encouraged women to denounce the aggression and violence they suffer on a daily basis, men’s words about violence remain very rare. Following the #MeToo movement , the French director Mai Hua convinced him to make a film about these talking circles that no one knew about. Make Me a Man (2020) brings together a dozen testimonies from men between the ages of 40 and 70, recounting their conceptions of masculinity, their discomforts and their traumas.

Through a series of shots in front of the camera, filmed against a black background, each man speaks in turn. However, no image shows the talking circles organized by the psychologist,  where these men reveal themselves during the most intimate group discussions. Nevertheless, the emotion shines through on these faces in close-up: the skins, the evasive looks, sometimes the tears… Nothing escapes the two directors. As during a session with a shrink, everyone explains their relationship with the notion of masculinity, with women, with sex. Armed with frankness, some men open up entirely and confess to rape, abuse, the impossibility of living one’s sexuality to the fullest… 

Also addressing the issue of violence as a matrix of masculinity, Make Me a Man shows these men who suffer in silence from a patriarchal culture that encourages them to silence their emotions. Sons and grandsons of the combatants of the two world wars,  these men live with a heavy past that the documentary confronts them with, especially when the filmmakers take them to the former combat zones of the Bay of the Somme. During a long therapeutic walk, these men are confronted with their education in a sexist culture. Maybe this is just the beginning of their therapy?

Make Me a Man, by Jerry Hyde and Mai Hua, on BrutX, available
.

Through a series of close-ups in front of the camera, filmed on a black background, each of the men speaks in turn, for 55 minutes. The skin, the evasive looks, sometimes the tears: nothing escapes the two directors. As during a session with a shrink, everyone explains their relationship with the notion of masculinity, women, sex. Director Mai Hua brings a feminine counter-fist to this documentary that celebrates a faltering male gaze at a time when it is crucial to reinvent the norms of masculinity. With finesse and frankness, some men open up entirely and confess to rape, abuse, refusal.

These men with buried pain and shame suffer in silence from a patriarchal culture that encourages them to silence their emotions. Make me a man also addresses the question of violence as a matrix of masculinity. Sons and grandsons of the combatants of the two world wars of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945, these men live with a heavy past that Jerry Hyde confronts them with by bringing them to the former combat zones of the Bay of the Somme in France. During a long therapeutic walk, filmed by Mai Hua, these men travel through the countryside in the footsteps of their ancestors. Raised in a sexist culture, these men dare to probe their feelings and by looking back on the past, they allow themselves to envision the future differently.

Make me a man, by Jerry Hyde and Mai Hua, on Brutx, available now.