The police are depicted as 'bad' in the black-and-white morality of an old-fashioned hero-versus-villain Saturday morning serial. The worst distortion is giving Danny the 'first brick.' That's upset a lot of people, but in the dramatic structure of the movie it's as much about Danny's becoming himself-a gay man throwing away his shame-as it is about the situation he finds himself in. Like most 'historical' movies there are inaccuracies. For what it really is, it's a very good movie. People wanted an accurate historical epic about the importance of the riots, and the movie isn't that and was never meant to be. It's basically a very oddball romance and coming-out story. It's also in part the story of the first person he meets in New York, played by Jonny Beauchamp, who steals the movie.
It's a movie about a Midwestern gay man whose story takes place on Christopher street at the time of the riots. Roland Emmerich's biggest mistake was calling the movie 'Stonewall' and marketing it as if it were the actual story of the rebellion.
