She was a student, nurse, wife and mother. She was also a soldier, lesbian and litigant.
Those are the two strands in the life of Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, the highest-ranking woman in the armed forces to challenge its ban on gays in the military.
And they are the two strands that Glenn Close pulls together in a remarkable -- make that unforgettable -- portrayal in "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story," at 9 tonight on WBAL (Channel 11).
They can start engraving Close's Emmy now. This is the made-for-TV movie performance of the year.
Close takes the public side of Cammermeyer -- decorated Vietnam veteran, nurse and mother of four boys -- and incorporates it into the private side of a woman who, for most of her adult life, believed she was heterosexual and, so, fit for military service.
It is a performance so credible, so seemingly real and natural, that even if you do not know any lesbians, nurses or soldiers, you will say, "I know this woman." Better yet, you will probably say, "I like this woman, too."
The NBC film is based on Cammermeyer's book, "Serving in Silence," and is co-produced by Close and Barbra Streisand. The screenplay is written by Alison Cross, who wrote the critically acclaimed "Roe vs. Wade" in 1989. "Serving in Silence" is in the same league with that Emmy Award-winning screenwriting effort.
The writing is so crisp, the lead performance so involving and Cammermeyer's personal journey so compelling that it's easy to overlook the next best thing about the film -- the work of Judy Davis ("My Brilliant Career") as Cammermeyer's friend and, then, lover.
As Diane, Davis' character is a perfect counterpoint to everything Cammermeyer is or isn't. Diane is an artist with no affinity for rules, uniforms or almost anything connected with military life . . . except Cammermeyer.
Depicted as a kind of aging hippie art teacher, Diane is slightly out of the closet with her friends, but her family and school know nothing of her sexual preference. When Cammermeyer decides to come out, it is something of a shock to everyone -- Cammermeyer, the audience and Diane herself -- that Diane finds herself initially horrified to be publicly identified as gay.
"Serving in Silence" is all about honesty. That's the point of Cammermeyer's suit (still pending) against the military for its ban on identifying oneself as homosexual. The lawsuit, and the film, seek to show the inconsistency of the government showering you with ribbons, commendations and promotions one minute, then suddenly finding you unfit for service on the basis of three words, "I am gay."
But don't let the social issues that underlie this story keep you from missing the human drama that drives the film. Close's Cammermeyer might seem a little too sainted for some. But "Serving in Silence" is, at its best, a story of one woman's continuing journey to find out who she is, what she believes in and what she must do. This good soldier discovers that she is stronger than she knows.
One last bit advice: Don't allow yourself to be unduly influenced by anything you might have heard or read about a lesbian kiss in the film. Cammermeyer and Diane do share a kiss near the end of the film. But it is tender, loving and completely placed within a dramatic context that not only justifies but even demands it be included.
This kiss is 180 degrees removed from the exploitative, let's-start-a-controversy kiss that Roseanne and Mariel Hemingway shared in a baldfaced play for ratings on ABC's "Roseanne" last year.
There is nothing exploitative about "Serving in Silence." It is quality, adult drama that proudly stands and serves in a not-so-long line of made-for-TV movies of great social conscience, like "Roe vs. Wade," "An Early Frost" and "That Certain Summer." This is television the industry can be proud of.