Orlando: My Political Biography

This film combines memoir and literary critique in a powerful way. It shows how trans artists relate to their own life stories and to Virginia Woolf's classic, complex, poetic novel Orlando. Woolf did not have the words to describe transgender or gender fluidity that we have today. But the experiences she depicts in the novel inspire today's trans activists. The fact that Woolf, the great writer, was grappling with an issue that she had no language for, shows that being trans is not something new and what it means changes over time. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish if the characters are speaking their own words or those of Woolf. The blending of Woolf's prose with the personal stories is haunting and beautiful. Mostly this works but it can be confusing. Fluidity is a main theme of the stories and the novel. The film concludes with an uplifting courtroom scene in 2028, where a judge, authorized by Woolf, abolishes gender assignment at birth.