Wow...this one's a weirdy...

Doris Wishman's schlock-umentary LET ME DIE A WOMAN is definitely one of the strangest things I've seen - and I've seen a lot. Appearing to be a somewhat "serious" documentary on the plight of the trans-sexual - it really comes off more as a sleazy exploit film piece-mealed together with some "scientific" elements.

The "story" is narrated by a Dr. Wollman, who is apparently an expert in all things trans-gendered. He basically pokes and prods these individuals with a metal probe, and recounts their "horrifying" trials and tribulations as trans-sexual individuals. Interspersed are oftentimes hilarious "re-enactments", and one pretty nasty portion of a male-to-female sex-change operation. There is also a repulsive scene where the good doctor probes a patients newly formed vagina (which looks more like it was made by a shotgun-blast then a scalpel...) with his finger. I only hope for the sake of the trans-sexual population that the medical community has made some MAJOR strides in terms of vaginal reconstruction since this film's creation...

In some ways, LET ME DIE A WOMAN seems as though it's truly sympathetic to the hardships of the trans-sexual community - and other times it seems as though the goal is simply to exploit them. To be honest, I couldn't care less as this is a subject I neither understand nor have any real interest in - this is another film that I watched strictly for curiosity's sake. For fans of uber-weirdo cinema, I'd say this one's a must-see, as they don't come much stranger than this - and it's honestly not even because of the subject matter. It's more because of how ineptly it's handled. I give the film a relatively decent rating because it's just so damned strange - most "mainstream" viewers won't care to watch this type of material...and honestly, I wouldn't blame 'em. 7/10

I did not know what to expect when I saw Let Me Die A Woman. Trangender friends told me that Leo Wollman was a noted medical authority, maybe THE medical authority on transgender issues and sexual reassignment surgery back in the Seventies when it was a topic that got very little public airing. The only thing I can say is that the film was done the way it was done was to get the widest possible audience for the subject. Even if said audience was only wanting a few pornographic titillating moments.

This film deals with male to female transitioning, the infinitely more complex subject of female to male transgender folks is for the most part left alone. It certainly is true the criticism that Wollman is no actor. He's a doctor and this is purportedly a documentary.

But a few porn stars like Harry Reems apparently offered their services to generate a little box office. In one of a few porn interludes Wollman notes that you can have problems if you don't sufficiently rest and recover after the surgery is done. Then by way of a demonstration Reems does his thing with a newly transitioned woman who then experiences vaginal bleeding. There's a few scenes like this in Let Me Die A Woman.

Talking about reassignment surgery though, the topic that is left untouched is the attitude of the insurance companies who still treat all of this as cosmetic surgery. That is to me mind blowing. All the transgender people I know both pre and post op have never approached sexual reassignment with the same attitude as one say getting a nose job which insurance companies have this on the level of. Some can never transition because the cost is so prohibitive they can't conceive of it in their lifetimes. This film shows the attitudes of 1977 and even with what we now know and the changing attitudes in public opinion, the medical insurance industry remains unaffected.

I suppose Wollman thought this was the way to get the message out, but wow did he pick the wrong kind of film to do it.

First of all, this film does not have anything meaningful to say about gender, sex change or anything remotely serious. This is not a good investigative look at transgendered individuals. This is no 'Boys don't Cry,' which is a heartbreaking and very good look at this kind of issue.

This is actually one of the most sleazy but memorable films that I have ever seen. Doris Wishman is probably one of the worst and most camp directors I have ever encountered. Her career is synonymous with trash. That is not a bad thing as such. Considering that there are mainstream directors out there who are just as bad if not worse. This film stands shoulder to shoulder with those 50's hygiene films that everyone thinks are so camp and hilarious now. John Waters probably likes this film!

Obviously the atmosphere in which you watch a film has a huge effect on how you remember it. I saw this at an 'incredibly strange film festival' when I was 17. I snuck in, I was a year to young. Maybe my youth combined with the explicit material is what has caused it to be etched into my mind. The festival had a strange effect on me and caused a lifelong addiction to bad films. There was a horror horn, which sounded at moments of well...ummm...horror. To male surgeons maybe a sex change is not watering to the eye. But I assure you as a layman male who dearly hopes never to lose that part of his anatomy, it is a moment of tension and anxiety. Although there were some women in the audience who found that moment absolutely hilarious.

This is the crux of the film. The material is handled in such an inept, offhand and exploitative way that the movie becomes a joke. The material does not seem to be serious and the relevant issues are replaced by absurd sex scenes. This film is an incompetently filmed, voyeuristic look at the lives of a largely misunderstood part of the human community. For this reason this film might be deserving of contempt. Perhaps it is. But it is certainly not a film that is to be taken seriously. I saw a short film that was also made in the seventies about sex and the mentally retarded. This film was just as bad and it was made by the American government. So not even health departments get it right.

Therefore this film is an one of those obscure curiosities that is shown at strange film festivals. It is a film that belongs in the cinema dungeons along with 'Pink Flamingo's' or 'Supervixens.' In fact, I cannot imagine someone finding this at their local blockbuster thats for transgender sure! The strangest thing about this film is that there is an actual Doctor and his patients taking part in this film. The film essentially sets them up to be the freaks in a circus side show! Having an actual Doctor seems like an attempt by Wishman to give the film some credulous weight. To elevate what is actually going on here. What truly adds to the horror is that out there...somewhere...maybe some weirdo psychiatrist might be taking this film absolutely seriously!

There is one totally bizarre scene in the film where the Doctor has a individual who has just had a sex change demonstrate their new vagina. This is done with a dildo. This is not done for clinical demonstration reasons. After the director has attempted to show you the lives of these people, she then throws in what is nothing more than an exploitive shock scene to grab attention. For shame! However the whole film is like this...

I recommend this film to those of us who like to watch trash, which this surely is. It will always stick out in my memory. Strange, bizarre but in the way they have chosen to make the film and not just because the subject evades the norm. I'll give it a 4 out of 10.