A few years ago I stumbled upon a little foreign short film called “Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho,” which is Portuguese for “I Don’t Want To Go Back Alone.” It is a coming-of-age story about a young blind man named Leonardo, and is a beautifully done piece about young love. Rather than explain the entire premise and ruin the ending, I’m putting the film here for our readers’ enjoyment:
The story of Leonardo and Gabriel is a story of love and identity that I couldn’t help being captivated by from the moment I saw it. What I love about this film is that, though it has it’s problems, it takes an important step towards greater representation of identities in films. It’s the first story I’ve seen about a young gay man discovering his sexuality who’s lived experience is also influenced by his ability status. Disability is very rarely portrayed in popular culture unless it is a defining characteristic, and to have a blind main character in a film where the focus is not his blindness is really cool. It’s important to point out, however, that this film didn’t go so far as to include a blind actor as the main character, Leonardo, which is a shortfall in representation that is often seen in films today.
If you saw this film and craved more of the story of Leonardo and Gabriel, you are not alone. The film was so popular following it’s release that a full length film based on the original story was created by the director, Daniel Ribeiro. “Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho” (The Way He Looks) was released in 2014 and has been nominated for a plethora of independent and LGBT awards, 13 of which it has won. While I cannot in good conscience link video sharing sites for you to watch the film on, I can leave the trailer here for you and inform you that it is in fact available on many sites and suggest that you watch it however you see fit.
