Uncle Gloria: One Helluva Ride! is a darkly funny, stranger-than-fiction documentary full of family drama and fireworks. The film is available on DVD starting this week.
During a nasty divorce, Butch, the 67 year-old Jewish macho and homophobic owner of a South Florida auto-wrecking company, hides from the law… as a woman – unknowingly setting off a twisting chain of events that lead to an epic tale of discovery. Naming herself after her two idols – Gloria Estefan and Gloria Steinem – she decides to remodel herself in much the same way Butch once lovingly restored his old cars. As a senior citizen, she undergoes a risky sex change operation, becomes a dominatrix, later a transgender activist, and ultimately finds love, all while trying to reconcile with her dysfunctional family.