Cinephile (Short Subject): One Night at Babes

4/5 Stars  

Plot: “Two worlds collide gloriously in Angelo Madsen Minax's collective portrait of a small-town dive bar in rural Vermont.”

Review: As the thump of a music-filled night fades into the quiet routines of a small-town bar, we are invited into Babes, which serves as a community center/watering hole for the rural Vermont village of Bethel. According to the 2020 Census data, Bethel, VT had a population of 1,942. With the start of a new day, the bar opens, our story begins, and we are invited to spend some time getting to know this unique establishment and the cast of characters who give it life and color.  

When one thinks of rural America, they often don't think of open, accepting, and queer-affirming spaces such as Babes. It is this idea that the filmmakers want us as audience members to wrestle with as we watch this story unfold. For its part, the bar has evolved and seen many different iterations. What was once a rural dive bar has morphed into the space we experience in this short documentary.  

Managed by two trans men with great senses of humor, Jesse and Owen have managed to create a shared space where everyone can be their authentic selves. Of course, this sort of transition took time and patience. Throughout this story, we meet the regulars who kept coming, leaning in, and creating opportunities for others.  

Babes reflects the town in which it lives. Both have experienced moments of transition, and those transitions have not been without heartache and some backlash, but this documentary does something powerful. It shows authentic moments of interaction across perceived dividing lines. In these moments of community, we understand everyone has a story. In the act of sharing and celebration of diversity, we see the realization of what Maya Angelou so beautifully captured when she wrote, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”  

Let this short film stand as everlasting evidence that all our false perceptions can fall with a little time and a little more intentional work.  

Be good to each other,  
Nathan