A dramatic expose of conversion therapy that avoids the maudlin and melodramatic

Boy Erased (2018 - does the title echo Gerl, Interrupted?)), directed and written by Joel Edgerton (who also plays a key role) and based on the memoir by Garrard Conley, tells in vivid and dramatic detail of the horrific practice of so-called conversion therapy, in which seemingly well-meaning families, usually devout Bible Belt Christians, send their children who seem to be homosexual/bisexual/lesbian to a program that promises to get them to change their sexual identity - through prayer and various "acting out" scenarios that become increasingly cruel and even dangerous. In this case, a young man- Jared, in the film - admits to his devout parents that he has "thoughts about men" and, after seeking guidance from several ministers, his parents - in particular his father - send him to a conversion program. We see the young man's struggles with his identity, his faith, his rightful skepticism of the whole underlying principle of the therapy, and the criminal abuse that takes place in at least this program - unlicensed therapists whose main goal seems to be to keep the young people in the program as long as possible. This movie could easily have descended into the mawkish, melodramatic, or didactic - but it never does. Jared's father (played well in a real casting against type by Russel Crowe) for example, could have been a bigoted ogre, but he's not - he truly loves his son and is trying, in his misguided way, to help his child. Similarly, the conversion-therapy center (Edgerton himself plays the lead so-called therapist) is horrendous and scary but many of the techniques used - role playing, journal keeping, sharing w/ the group, professions of love and support - are not horrendous in and of themselves, at least initially. Like many such films, this one ends w/ some factual info about the extent of conversion therapy in the U.S. - estimated to damage the lives of some 700k young people and legal in, I think, 33 states - and we also see some snapshots of Conley and his family; thankfully, they're not erased.