The Fruit Machine (2018)

The "fruit machine" is a device used by the Canadian government to identify homosexuals (because homosexuals are contemptuously called "fruit"). This film is about the systematic dismissal of gay civil servants by the Canadian government in the 1950s and 1980s. The starting point of this story is the hope and efforts of a country to do the right thing. After World War II, Canada and many Western countries were busy with national security. In the context of the Cold War, Canada began to investigate federal employees who might have been blackmailed by Soviet spies, while homosexuality was considered a "character defect" at the time (associated with alcoholism and adultery). Under the guidance of the newly established security committee, homosexuality became the reason for surveillance and interrogation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was supported by the Ministry of Defense at that time. Over the past 40 years, the Canadian government has used the controversial device "fruit machine" in an attempt to disqualify LGBT employees as civil servants, invading the privacy of thousands of men and women and destroying their careers. They are interrogated, threatened and manipulated. Many people were psychologically affected, and some committed suicide. This is one of the biggest bullying campaigns in Canadian history. This film records the stories of these people.