Polarized, from writer and director Shamim Sarif, tells a layered story about a town polarized by racism and two women who fall in love. The actors are very good and a lovely soundtrack helps make this film enjoyable.

Polarized begins with Lisa (Holly Deveaux) moving the last of her belongings out of the family farmhouse. There’s a big foreclosed sign on the door. Unworked farmland stretches in every direction around the house. Lisa and her parents are reduced to living together in a trailer park. Her dad has cancer.

Dalia (Maxine Denis), on the other hand, is head of a thriving warehouse of lush hydroponically grown vegetables that provides most of the few jobs left in town. She is one of numerous Muslim immigrants who have settled in the town.

Racism divides the town and creates animosity. Especially since the Muslim owned businesses are thriving and the rest of the town languishes.

Lisa is a talented singer and songwriter, but she takes a job in the newcomer’s warehouse farm to help her family. Her family wants her to marry a fellow named Ben (Darren Martens) but she is a repressed lesbian and wants nothing to do with Ben or marriage.

Dalia is engaged to Omar (Abraham Asto) and planning a wedding.

So, to the point, Lisa and Dalia fall in love. It’s a slow burn with them resisting the attraction through most of the movie. There were more than the usual number of obstacles to them getting together.

All the LGBTQ tropes get pulled into the story, but solid performances from the actors and believable characters made this one of the better stories of this genre that I’ve seen.

I saw Polarized on Tubi, but it can be rented from some other streamers. If you give it a watch, let me know what you think.