Chicken Hawk Movie Review

When you're looking for a third film to round out a triple feature for an upcoming N.A.M.B.L.A. meeting (the other movies being For a Lost Soldier and Happiness, naturally), Chicken Hawk is sure to fit the bill. Its filmmakers offer a platform to male lovers of boys, so you're mostly stuck with their rationales. The most extreme is a spacey older gent who's convinced that a mere exchange of smiles with a child represents “flirting” and/or mutual consent for sexual activity. (The identities of the kids in the film are disguised.) All the advocates of man-boy love claim to be “celibate” and some offer the argument that sex between adults and children has been permissible in societies outside of Western culture. Opposing views, mostly expressed by concerned parents, receive token attention. A fundamental ethical issue, the vast discrepancy between an adult's power to choose and a child's basic powerlessness to make an informed choice, is not really addressed in this scrupulously non-judgmental film. AKA: Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys.

1994 58m/C Barbara Adler, Mimi Turner; D: Adi Sideman; C: Nadev Harel.