By John Corrado
The 2025 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 24th to May 4th in Toronto
The provocative title of My Boyfriend the Fascist refers to the relationship between self-identified left-wing Italian filmmaker Matthias Lintner and his Cuban boyfriend Sadiel Gonzalez, a right-wing activist fighting communist influences.
Lintner’s film takes a verite approach, the camera observing the couple in intimate moments (and various states of undress), as they debate politics and try to find a balance between their differing worldviews. It’s a portrait of their relationship that is as open as it is unvarnished.
We see Sadiel’s impassioned rants that put an increasing strain on their relationship, but he also has a point. Communism has killed millions of people, and his whole family lived through it before he fled from Cuba to Italy, so there is a rationale behind his shell-shocked outbursts about wanting freedom for his people. To call him a fascist is a stretch; he’s a fiery, opinionated figure, but more of a classical liberal at heart.
Sadiel also challenges his partner’s progressive viewpoints, pointing out that masked “Antifa” protesters are behaving more like the fascists they claim to be against. Likewise, Matthias questions how Sadiel can weigh his support for Italy’s populist parties with their historic lack of support for LGBTQ+ rights. This leads to Sadiel and his Cuban activist group becoming increasingly involved in the Italian elections, as he tries to justify his rationale for supporting Giorgia Meloni, and grappling with his place in right-wing movements as a gay man.
The film not only works as a candid and often entertaining portrait of a romantic relationship trying to survive around political differences, but also as an exploration of the shifting left-right paradigm. It arrives at a time of continued political polarization (including here in Canada), and opens up a frank conversation about how to navigate political disagreements between partners.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
The Joy of Movies 