Across Dot Ave Takes Critical Look at Boston's Past--and Present

For a city that prides itself on its history, Boston's past isn't really all that rosy. We've recently brought up a couple of blotches on Boston's resume, from the Red Scare of the 1950s to the busing crisis of the 1970s. Across Dot Ave, which screened last weekend at the Boston International Film Festival, highlights yet another unsettling aspect of recent Boston history: white supremacists. The movie, based on a true story, is a compelling tale of one Bostonian's struggle to come to grips with his past and present.

Local boy Kevin Hearns has made good, transforming himself from a stockbroker-pummeling South Boston skinhead into a high-powered NYC stockbroker. He's removed himself geographically, but his Boston roots run deep. Back in town to visit his sick aunt, Kevin's forced to confront both his skinhead past and his emotionally barren present.

Across Dot Ave doesn't go into too much detail about skinhead culture; its ugliness isn't really the point of the film. In flashback sequences, we see Kevin and his gang drinking beers, playing basketball, lacing up their Docs, dealing drugs, and punching strangers--all in a day's work for young skinheads. Some nasty terminology is thrown about, but the only person the boys seriously beat up is white (they judge him too feminine), and the leader of the local skinhead chapter is actually black (go figure?). These anomalies help clarify that the skinhead movement--for these boys, at least--isn't so much about hating any particular group as about the need to feel important, powerful, and needed. What better way to find this feeling than to exclude and degrade others?

Kevin may have stepped out of his boots, but he didn't truly learn any lessons from his skinhead days. As a result, he's doomed to confront them head-on when he returns to town. To feel powerful and needed these days, Kevin hangs out with the "right" crowd in New York, fills out endless reports, works 14-hour days, and grows distant from his wife--not to mention his family, which he neglects by typing up endless spreadsheets even while he's in town for his short visit. Kevin's been away from Boston for 15 years when the movie starts, which is a bit hard to believe when he lives so close. He sees all his old skinhead friends--not by choice, but by necessity when he discovers that his sister has gotten involved with a sketchy crowd.

Kevin's former best friend Danny has now covered up his "skinhead" knuckle tattoos and is trying to live the straight life as a mechanic after a stint in jail. Owen, the ringleader of the boys' gang, is still a skin--swastika tattoo blaring from his arm and hatred shining in his eyes--and Kev's buddy Jimmy has turned into the premier local drug dealer. Clearly, Kevin's the only "success" of the group, but his success exists largely on paper and not in terms of relationships. His sister's headed down the wrong path, his dad's health is failing, and his mom's getting shoved around by his dad--but he hasn't been there to find out about or try to fix any of these problems.

Danny says of his skinhead experience, "I gave up everything I cared about to fit in," sacrificing his own interests for the good of an ultimately useless "cause." When Kevin and Sarah talk at the end of the film, they conclude, "if you change, that's okay too"--because true love involves loving a person, not the facade they adopt for you.

In a way, Kevin is emblematic of many Bostonians. It's easy to talk about what a cosmopolitan city Boston is and pride ourselves on our rich history. But that rich history is accompanied by a lot of ugliness that needs to be confronted--both ugliness of the past and of the present. Dot Ave is scheduled for a makeover starting next year, but pretty storefronts can't erase harsh realities. Boston is a great city, but it could be even greater if we acknowledged our shortcomings and cover-ups and worked hard to expose and correct them.

In the film, Kevin's dad reveals that he passed up a chance to go to school on the G.I. Bill. Kevin is appalled, but his father brushes it aside, saying "never ask for more than you have a right to expect." A lot of people in Boston are getting a lot less than what most of us feel we have the right to expect. How are we helping these people in our day-to-day lives? And how are we denying our true selves in the interest of fulfilling absurd social standards?

These are just a few of the crucial questions Across Dot Ave raises. This well-made and deeply affecting film is worth seeing not only for its story but also for the effect it can--and should--have on the way you live.