Review: Blessed Cure
Blessed Cure is the story of Acácio do Nascimento, a man who was subjected to several treatments looking for a supposed cure for his homosexuality. Written and illustrated by Mário César, publishers Soaring Penguin Press are funding the English translation of this Brazilian LGBTQ+ book about Conversion Therapy over on Crowdfundr.
The story follows Acácio through many stages of his life, as he turns to increasingly extreme remedies, treatments found all too easily in a Catholic nation that sees homosexuality as a perversion. Something that can be cured. Acácio will live. He will survive. But what will be the nature of the life he leads? What will he have to deal with at home and through his struggles with friends and family? It's a heartbreaking read, but one people need to read because this has been happening.
The art is fantastic, and you immediately notice the colour scheme at play. It's clever and brilliantly done. If you take the first few chapters as an example, Acácio, as a child, has long hair, and when he's at an age for school, the light shining on it is pink. When he has his hair cut short, that changes and no longer shimmers any colour. The pink and blue colours throughout are used with meaning, more so than any comic I can remember. His dad is always in blue. His mum is always in pink. Acácio switches and mixes depending on where he is in life. Colouring is an art, and this takes it to the next level with extra weight behind the colouring decisions.
There are also a lot of facial expressions used with emotional weight behind them that hit hard. You can feel the emotions radiating off the pages.
The story is one of the harsh realities of life that Acacio lives through. César's decision to skip large parts of Acácio's life works well, and you never feel like you need to know what happened in between. His wife is pregnant at the end of one chapter, and the next chapter starts with his child as a toddler. You quickly learn through one or two current scenes what Acácio has been dealing with in the intervening years as we get ready for the next defining moment of his life. Through childhood, teens and adult life, with a troubling relationship with his family and friends, Acácio is trying to live a "normal" life in a homophobic environment where he can't be true to himself, no matter how hard he tries to be who everyone wants him to be.
There are some truly upsetting moments throughout, especially knowing that this has been happening to people. The scenes, though upsetting, are ones that need to be shown. They add so much emotional weight, and it caused me to take my time reading it. I stuck to a chapter a day for my own sanity as parts are gutwrenching and cruel. It's not all bad, though, as seeing Acácio accept himself at the end was genuinely heartwarming. It's just a shame it took so long to come, but that's how life is sometimes. It's not fair, and it can take time to accept yourself for who you really are.
Blessed Cure is a tough read. It's a book that should be read, though. It makes me think back to something my dad said to me years ago. He doesn't like and isn't scared of a lot of horror films. "They're not real or even realistic, so what's there to be scared or upset about? It's the films that can be true or ones based on real life that get me, because that's the horrors of humanity, and you know it's been happening and that we're capable of it." And that's what struck me the most with Blessed Cure. You know this has been happening. I'm not naive enough to believe it still isn't in some places. And that adds some real horror and emotion to this story. It's a story that will hit harder with some people more than others, but it'll hit hard nonetheless because this is what we have done.
Blessed Cure is currently funding on Crowdfundr, which everyone should check out. It's a book that'll stick with you and highlights some really important topics. Mário César is a star for how this story is put together. As difficult as it is to read, it deserves a lot of praise for how well it's told and illustrated.
Rating: 5/5
Mário César (w + a) - Soaring Penguin Press
