‘The Stroll’ Review – HBO Documentary Is A Moving And Vital Piece Of Queer History

Directed By: Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker

Plot Summary: Reuniting her sisters to tell this essential New York story from their first-hand experiences, Kristen’s intimate narration and interviews bring an astonishing array of archival material of bygone New York from the 1970s through the early 2000s to life. As much as THE STROLL is a film about transgender life, it is also a startling account of gentrification, as New York City Mayor Giuliani enacted “quality of life” initiatives that ramped up policing in the city and pushed the sex workers out of the neighborhood. Despite the forces that threatened their survival, Kristen and her sisters fought back. They no longer have “The Stroll,” but they are at the center of a movement to protect their rights; activists recently reversed legislation dubbed “Walking While Trans,” which enabled police profiling and harassment of transgender people for decades. In this new era of visibility and activism, THE STROLL reminds us that trans women of color and sex workers continue to forge a path forward, thriving through their resilience, community organizing and sisterhood.

Take a second to imagine something. You are 14 years old and the parents that are supposed to love and care for you kicks you out of their house. Why? All because you are trying to live an authentic life. Now, your home is the streets and the only work you can get is sex work. You probably know fellow sex workers that were brutally killed. All of this is fresh in your mind as you get into a stranger’s car, just to survive. Will you be next? Will you even make it another day, week, or year?

Despite having a lot of visibility in the Queer realm, it still feels like trans stories are harder to come by. That’s why documentaries like Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s The Stroll are not only extremely timely, but extremely important. It’s sobering and vital that you know this simple fact: the people featured in this film are the lucky few that made it. So, when they speak it’s a mixture of joy and hope that they made it out, yet, it’s tragic that many others did not. It’s pride month, and yeah, it’s time to party and show people that we aren’t going anywhere. However, we need to also take time to take a beat, sit down and listen to those brave people that blazed a trail, and are still fighting. Since Queer history isn’t a mainstream subject in schools, it behooves us to learn it for ourselves, and The Stroll is an incredibly important document.

The candid interviews, rare photos and archival interviews all bring things into focus. Yes, the film drives home the dark and depressing aspects of the stroll, yet it also balances this with a sense of hope. One is left with the feeling that while there is still a lot of work to be done, we have come so far. It also highlights the uncomfortable fact that many people in our own community have often cast off the trans people. The footage of legend and trans icon Sylvia Rivera being booed and screamed at as she gave her now famous “Gay Power” speech at the Christopher Street Liberation Day rally is haunting. Sylvia was front and center at the Stonewall riots which truly kicked off the gay-rights movement.

We sadly don’t have a lot of footage of Sylvia, so what we do have is literal historical records of an activist who fought till the day she died. Hearing her talk and sometimes yell is like she is reaching out from the beyond to give us mortals sage wisdom. Sure, this is a month to celebrate., but we must not forget why we celebrate and why we still need to fight every day for LGBTQ+ rights. The Stroll is a powerful, moving and vital piece of Queer history.

The Stroll will debut on HBO and Max on June 21, 2023.

[youtube https://youtu.be/mrLrdjKaQDE]