Movies - Trans MMA star battles prejudice in 'Unfightable' docA harrowing, heartbreaking, inspiring portrait of Alana McLaughlin
Link to Full ArticleWashington Blade - John Paul King
Published on September 17, 2024
It's no surprise that the fall movie landscape finds an unusually large number of films – most of them documentaries – about trans people and the challenges they face in trying to achieve an identity that matches their own sense of self.
Particularly timely, in the wake of an Olympics marked by controversy over the participation of Algeria's Imane Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting in the women's competition, is "Unfightable," from producer/director Marc J. Perez. Offering up a harrowing, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring portrait of Alana McLaughlin – a U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant who, following gender transition, turned female MMA fighter only to face resistance and transphobic prejudice within the rarified cultural microcosm of professional sports – while also taking a deep dive into the world of Mixed Martial Arts and the starkly divided attitudes of those who work within it, it aims to turn one person's trans experience into a metaphor for the struggle of an entire community to be recognized and accepted on its own terms. For the most part, it succeeds.
"Unfightable" ... will air on ViX, the leading Spanish-language streaming service in the world, and in English on Fuse TV, following its theatrical run.----------