Rock Hudson: Dark and Handsome Stranger

Documentary about the life of the man who was the most popular actor in the United States for almost two decades, and who hid his homosexuality, with a routine structure very close to a television reportage, or one of those "extras" in DVDs and Blu-Rays. However, there is affection in the approach to Rock Hudson's dramatic childhood and compassion as it narrates his final days, adding reflections on the role models of the 20th century, the cannibalistic film industry of Los Angeles, and the first years of the HIV plague, with prejudices and bad practices of health professionals that Hudson suffered. The film narrative is also helped by the graphic design that plays with gay icons from the 50s to the 70s, from comics, magazines and films of nude bodybuilders to disco singing group Village People; and by some interesting interviews offered by people who knew Hudson: actress Salome Jens, who narrates some kind of epiphany that the actor experienced during the shooting of «Seconds»; Yanou Collart, the woman who helped Hudson in his last visit to France, in search for help for his health condition; his secretary Mark Miller, Rona Barrett and stage director Stockton Briggle, who remembers the rainbow that was formed in the place where he and Hudson's friends scattered his ashes into the Pacific ocean. A hard to find movie, but worth watching.