This heart-wrenchingly moving documentary tells the story of director Malachi Leopold’s uncle, Alex, a former Peace Corp volunteer who spent a decade from 1967 to 1977 living in Iran, where he met and fell in love with Ali, an Iranian man who has forever been entrenched in his memory as his soulmate.
Forced out of the country during the Islamic revolution, Alex now resides in North Carolina and has not seen Ali in 35 years, although they keep in touch through carefully worded letters and phone calls. Unable to share their true feelings in these long-distance communications for fear of catching the Iranian censor’s eye, they finally decide to meet.
The now 68-year-old Alex and 61-year-old Ali plan a two-week reunion in Turkey—known as an underground passage of sorts for LGBT Iranians seeking to escape their country’s repressive laws. The hopes that they can rekindle their relationship are quickly dashed in a story that reveals painful emotional twists and turns, proving that circumstance has a true influence on quality of life.
Alex & Ali is a devastating, yet fascinating documentary that will leave you wondering if love conquers all.
