Valentine Road (ATOM Study Guide)

Valentine Road (2013) is an American documentary directed by Marta Cunningham. Valentine Road is suitable for secondary students in Years 11–12. The film is a suitable text for study in VCE English, Health and Human Development, Media Studies, Psychology, Sociology and VCAL: Literacy.

'He was solving a problem.' That's how one juror describes the actions of Brandon McInerney, a fourteen-year-old from Oxnard, California, who shot and killed his cross-dressing classmate Lawrence 'Larry' King. Now serving a twenty-one-year sentence for second-degree murder, Brandon has been cast as both monster and victim, but the truth of the matter is far more complex and uncomfortable. Valentine Road reveals the heartbreaking circumstances that led to the shocking crime as well as the aftermath.

On February 12, 2008, eighth-grade student Brandon shot his classmate Larry twice in the back of the head during first period. When Larry died two days later, his murder shocked the nation. Was this a hate-crime, one perpetuated by a budding neo-Nazi whose masculinity was threatened by an effeminate gay kid who may have had a crush on him? Or was there even more to it? The documentary tells the story of two victims: the deceased and the murderer.

The school shooting shattered the town. As the community reeled and the national media descended, a fifteen-year-old lay dead and his fourteen-year-old attacked awaited trial for murder. A sensational tale of a flamboyant young biracial boy pushing a budding young white supremacist to his breaking point made for great headlines but only scratched the surface of the real story. Both Larry and Brandon were from broken homes. Both had been physically abused. Both were searching for a sense of belonging. More considered reportage brought attention to the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens, as well as the overwhelmed educational and juvenile justice systems.

Marta Cunningham, the director of Valentine Road, interviews family, friends, teachers and classmates of Larry and Brandon, as well as their attorneys, law enforcement officials, jurors and mental health professionals. They discuss the shooting and its impact on them and their community. Through interviews, cinéma-vérité footage and the examination of details and documents leading up to and including that fateful day, Valentine Road asks what can be done to help children like Larry and Brandon, and what happens when it is too late to help.