Freeheld is a film about co-opting the political zeitgeist in the search for justice which itself co-opts the political zeitgeist in the search for justice. Set in the mid-2000s when same-sex marriage in the US was suppressed by revolting Republican ogres, it tells the Capra-esque saga of long-serving cop Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) and her live-in lover, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). They feel the hot prongs of the conservative pitchfork when Laurel is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and is told she can’t have her pension payments roll over to Stacie – a standard perk for heterosexual couples. Director Peter Sollett mounts a full-scale attack on the tear ducts as he rolls out scene after scene of inspiring oratory, heart-rending illness and full-on liberal do-gooding. And it works like gangbusters, addressing the idea that so much oppression is the result of fat-necked male politicos clinging to oversized pay packets and antiquated notions of progress.
