Great Freedom review – powerful gay​​ prison drama​ ​set postwar Germany | Drama films | The Guardian

Contents:

• LOST DURG NAZI LE GERMANY, ONE OF THE WORLD’S FIRST PRO-GAY FILMS HAS FALLY BEEN RTORED FOR MORN VIEWERS
• QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA
• GREAT FREEDOM REVIEW – POWERFUL GAY​​ PRISON DRAMA​ ​SET POSTWAR GERMANY
• INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

LOST DURG NAZI LE GERMANY, ONE OF THE WORLD’S FIRST PRO-GAY FILMS HAS FALLY BEEN RTORED FOR MORN VIEWERS

In the early days of cema, a German sexologist ma one of the world’s first pro-gay films. Hirschfeld, who was not only homosexual but Jewish, moved to France that year. For Hirschfeld, the film was also an opportuny to draw attentn to anti-gay laws Germany at the time.

“Although the film n be nsired a good example of g media to agate for the reform of anti-gay laws, Herrn has problems wh the way the film am sexual inty. Although the film n be nsired a good example of g media to agate for the reform of anti-gay laws, Herrn has problems wh the way the film am sexual inty. “It is argug, an sentialist way, that homosexualy is an born tra ed by hormone imbalanc, and that is very problematic, ” he says.

QUEER KO: 1970S AND ‘80S GAY GERMAN ARTHOE CEMA

“Then you uld provi the tools to extguish homosexualy bee you propose [that was a disorr], uld be treated.

GREAT FREEDOM REVIEW – POWERFUL GAY​​ PRISON DRAMA​ ​SET POSTWAR GERMANY

This is a siar le of thkg that, for example, led the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn to list homosexualy as a disorr the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM), leadg to harmful attempts to “cure” homosexualy; the fn was removed om the DSM 1973. The fifth and fal sectn of Getze r Liebe is dited to homosexualy, and is actually an abridged and rtctured versn of a feature-length film Hirschfeld had -wrten wh Richard Oswald (who was also s director and producer) about eight years earlier.

Anrs als die Anrn (Different om the Others), released 1919, is nsired to be the first pro-gay film the world.

The central msage of the film is the ways that Paragraph 175—and the stigma and prejudice bred about homosexualy—stroyed the liv of gay and bisexual men Germany at the time. However, also generated great ntroversy, and beme one of the first films to be subjected to Germany’s new censorship laws the followg year on the grounds that the drama nstuted “homosexual propaganda.

INTERNATNAL GAY CEMA: 33 LGBTQ MOVI TO SEE OM AROUND THE WORLD

This plan was a failure, as thori immediately censored the parts of Getze r Liebe on “sexual termediacy” and homosexualy. The prohibn agast “homosexual propaganda” only applied to movg imag, so Hirschfeld hosted viewgs of the first three uncensored chapters of the film, followed by a lecture wh slis of stills om the more ntroversial fal two chapters, says Stefan Drößler, director of the Munich Film Mm.

“They showed [East] Berl a ltle cema for archival treasur, ” Drößler says, addg that people om the gay scene Wt Berl crossed the borr for viewgs. The Munich Film Mm will release both Getze r Liebe and Anrs als die Anrn, along wh Gchlecht Fseln (Sex Chas), a film om 1928 that also addrs them of homosexualy, on DVD by the end of the summer.

‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY

About a century after the release of the films, siar arguments about “homosexual propaganda” are beg ed to supprs the exprsn and anizg of LGBTQ+ people several European untri. Culled om a longlist of hundreds, movi nsired for the list promently feature gay, lbian, trans, or queer characters; ncern self centrally wh LGBTQ+ them; prent s LGBTQ+ characters a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpot the evolutn of queer cema.

And we regnize that some of the films the list will re-igne healthy bat that have been fixtur of discsn around LGBTQ+ films — straight actors playg gay characters, cis actors playg trans characters, and the historil domance of whe male perspectiv.