I Am Divine

Jeffrey Schwarz – 2013 – USA 

Long overdue feature-length profile of the illustrious Divine; one of the greatest camp drag queens to emerge out of the 60s and 70s.  There are few revelations for fans, as friends and colleagues have often discussed Divine in other documentaries and DVD commentary tracks, but it’s still nice to have such a thorough biography and appreciation all in one place.  As a boy in 1950s Baltimore, Harris Glenn Milstead was overweight, irrepressibly effeminate, and the target of relentless bullies.  Aware of him from afar was his neighbor, iconoclastic filmmaker John Waters, who struck an unlikely friendship with Milstead, encouraged his penchant for camp, and even proposed a stage name that stuck; ‘Divine.’  Waters went on to direct Divine in several now-classic midnight movies, such as Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974), which showcased Divine as a braying, homicidal cultural terrorist and a psychotic parody of brassy Hollywood stars like Jayne Mansfield and Elizabeth Taylor.  Alone among Waters’ troupe of regulars, Divine carved out a substantial career alone too; including burlesques, plays, disco music, and eventually as an admired character actor in legitimate films.  Despite his famous corpulence, he was incredibly physical, often screaming, running and dancing wildly in various films and shows.  Personally, I felt that the documentary is a little light and routine, especially considering how much commentary already exists about Divine.  I hoped for something that might have probed a little deeper to present perspectives we haven’t seen yet.  But as an orthodox portrait of a fascinating personality, it does not disappoint.