MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Tacticalin An absolute waste of money

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

bkoganbing Although we do get to hear the voice of Brandon Teena because of her taped interview with the police, The Brandon Teena Story is essentially the plot of Boys Don't Cry without the central protagonist. Hilary Swank filled the void that Brandon's absence created with her Academy Award winning performance. What we have here is a documentary of the events leading up to his murder and what happened to his killers.When dealing with a transgender individual to properly tell the story we have to go back to the cradle to those very first questioning that something is not right with the body I'm in. So it was with Tina Brandon born in Nebraska and raised in a time where she would have had limited access to literature about being transgender. She also was raised in a redneck culture and her male role models were the redneck boys she grew up with. This was to her what it meant to be a man.Before he was murdered at the end of 1993, Tina Brandon reversed her name and started living as Brandon Teena in a nearby town where no one knew him from a previous identity as a woman. As a man Brandon did pretty good with the woman by the accounts in the film and that aroused suspicion that eventually led to tragedy.There were two crimes involving Brandon Teena. The first was a brutal rape when her physical privacy was violated on Christmas Eve and then her murder along with two other people to silence them as witnesses after Brandon Teena brought the complaint of rape on New Year's Eve.Two things I guarantee you will disturb you for all time to come. The first was the total lack of remorse by Brandon's killers, John Lotter and Tom Nissen. They still truly believe that in their heart of hearts they were somehow defending the barriers of male sexuality from unwanted invasion. Secondly it's the total lack of compassion and understanding of transgender issues by the sheriff's department when you hear the sheriff questioning Brandon about the rape. Both these things sad to say aren't a new story for me. I worked 23 years for NYS Crime Victims Board and even today the approach some police take regarding gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender crime victims is appalling. It's far worse where I live now in Buffalo than in New York City where I'm originally from. That it's not a new a revelatory story for me is another frightening thing.To get the facts as Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet, I suggest you watch the Brandon Teena Story documentary. To flesh out who was Brandon Teena than don't miss Hilary Swank's performance in Boys Don't Cry.This review is dedicated to all the Transgender support groups out there in the world, especially to the Buffalo Belles and Spectrum in my area. They provide an incalculable service to those transgender folks at various stages of their journey. Due to the insurance regulations most will die in the bodies they feel wrongly trapped in. Hopefully that will change and the Brandon Teenas don't have to stay Tina Brandon if that's not who they were meant to be.

shaystewart OK. I spent the last fifteen minutes reading the comments written about this film. Out of the twenty some I've read thus far, only about four users seemingly understood the film's content and message. Brandon Teena was male. Yes, he was born in a female body, but he was transgender, therefore ONLY male pronouns should be used in reference to him. He/his/boy/man/etc. HE WAS NOT A GIRL. The fact that all of the users who have commented have presumably seen the film, and especially those of you who claim the ignorance of others, but then continue to use wrong pronouns for Brandon disgusts me. Do your research, and have some more respect.

jennbru83-1 I thought that although the movie was somewhat amateur, the vein of Brandon's story was tapped into. I really liked the fact that the filmmakers went out and found and interviewed people who actually knew Brandon and that we as the audience were able to learn more about him and his life. I also can appreciate that the movie at least gave mention to Phil DeVine and Lisa Lambert. "Boys Don't Cry" never even mentioned Phil and that movie also made it seem like Lana Tisdel was the one and only true love in Brandon's life. This movie minimizes her role in Brandon't life and eventual death. At least this film didn't just use the really "interresting" aspects of his life, but it used the real aspects of Brandon's life. There was one main thing that did bother me in this movie though. The use of long, drawn out music that seemed to have very little to do with the film itself. I think that if that had been cut back a bit, I personally would have enjoyed the movie far more. This was definitely worth watching if you are curious about the life and death of Brandon Teena.

chas77 I just watched this on video last night, after having seeing "Boys Don't Cry" in the theaters a few weeks ago. This is the perfect companion piece for that movie which, though fictionalized in some aspects, treats the story pretty well. Where "The Brandon Teena" story suffers is in its failure to completely document Teena's pre Fall City lifestyle. We know Teena left Lincoln, Nebraska but we aren't given a more clear picture of his/her life there. For instance, while the mother is interviewed, what about the father? Was there one? Why didn't the mother drive down to Falls City right after she was raped? Why didn't she send her away from that town to a safe shelter, especially when the two perps were given their freedom? Didn't anyone think that John and Tom would try to exact revenge? These questions are never answered. One gets the feeling that Teena, aside from having a "sexual identity crisis" as she puts it, was an incredibly tortured soul, one who couldn't see the forest for the trees, as the saying goes. This film contains fascinating subject matter which isn't given as thorough attention as it deserves.