Film Review: Valentine Road (2013)

On February 12 2008 in Oxnard California, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney shot classmate Larry King twice in the back of the head at point blank range. He died two days later in hospital. Larry’s presence troubled Brandon so much he felt such a drastic measure was the only option. This sounds like a pretty clear-cut case of first-degree murder. Unfortunately it proved to be anything but.

Larry came out at ten years of age and was incredibly comfortable with his sexuality. Two weeks before his murder he began to dress more effeminately, wearing make up and accessorising. A day or two before the shooting Larry walked up to Brandon and asked him to be his valentine in front of his friends, which is argued angered him to the point of deciding to end Larry’s life.

Wanting to initiate discussion on the topics she presents, first time director Marta Cunningham refrains from presenting the information with any kind of bias. We get to know both young men through interviews with family, friends and teachers, all trying to make sense of how things elevated to murder. Valentine Road takes an even approach at delivering both boys’ stories, but Cunningham deliberately doesn’t give Brandon a voice, seeing as there will never be a way to give Larry the same opportunity.

Just how was it that McInerney was able to get possession of a gun so easily isn’t the focus of Valentine Road. Cunningham deliberately steered away from issues of gun control because she felt it would consume all of production and take away the voice she desperately wanted to give to the schoolkids of EO Green Junior High.

As you can imagine there are some incredibly confronting scenes throughout Valentine Road, mainly involving the narrow-minded thinking of numerous jurors who started a “Save Brandon” campaign after the mistrial. Convinced that Brandon was the victim in the case who was simply trying to “fix a problem”, they openly spoke about their feelings towards both him and Larry.

This film is a very well structured look at how intolerance and ignorance robbed a young man of his life in the most horrific of circumstances. Valentine Road isn’t a pro-tolerance documentary because tolerance isn’t good enough. You shouldn’t simply tolerate human beings, you should accept them for who they are. This is essential viewing.

Valentine Road screened as part of the 62nd annual Melbourne International Film Festival.

★★★★