‘On the same level as the Nazis’: the film about Germany’s postwar persecutn of gay men | Film | The Guardian

Contents:

• NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY
• GAY NAZI MOVIE TRIUMPHS AT ROME FILM FTIVAL
• ‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN
• ‘GREAT FREEDOM’ AND THE LONG SHADOW OF AN ANTI-GAY LAW GERMANY
• ERNST RöHM, THE HIGHT-RANKG GAY NAZI
• IN 'GREAT FREEDOM,' A MAN IS EED OM THE NAZIS, AND RE-IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME
• GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME - PHOTOGRAPHS

NETFLIX EXPOS THE SECRET GAY HISTORY OF NAZI GERMANY

Which didn’t stop burly Hler nfidante and head of the Nazi SA paraary wg Ernst Röhm, a not-terribly-closeted gay man, om equentg the tablishment. As the film explas, the SA had a strong homoerotic element, a disgt wh women and femy they somehow ed to jtify homosexualy – for a time, anyway.

At a certa pot, Röhm’s iendship wh Hler uld only take him so far a Nazi regime creasgly set on eraditg homosexualy. Röhm is but one player this ncise, ftly told doc that the Eldorado as a lnchg pad to a broar story about beg gay Nazi Germany.

GAY NAZI MOVIE TRIUMPHS AT ROME FILM FTIVAL

The film never out and yells , but is also a remr of the Fal Solutn tenor that still acpani much anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric and, creasgly, policy. He was also a bohemian spir who had a passnate homosexual relatnship wh Manasse Herbst, a Galician Jewish actor who fled Germany 1936. Hirschfeld, a groundbreakg sexologist, both gay and Jewish and therefore a prime target of Nazi Germany, was thankfully not prent when his stute was ransacked by mardg Nazi youth (here aga, there are photos).

Here we experience the nce that thrived before the fall, at a hiaway for those whose differenc would soon mark them for prison, exile, or, many s, ath ( is timated that between 5, 000 and 15, 000 gay people died the ncentratn mps for vlatg Paragraph 175).

‘ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE NAZIS’: THE FILM ABOUT GERMANY’S POSTWAR PERSECUTN OF GAY MEN

Cast & crewUser reviewsTrivia1997NC-171h 45mIn 1930s Berl, a gay Jew is sent to a ncentratn mp unr the Nazi 1930s Berl, a gay Jew is sent to a ncentratn mp unr the Nazi 1930s Berl, a gay Jew is sent to a ncentratn mp unr the Nazi productn, box office & pany Vios1More like thisReview Detailg the gradatn of Nazi-regime victims...

Homosexual playboy 1930s Germany fights to keep himself and his gay flat-mate out of the grasp of Nazi soldiers, but they are soon round up and face the horrors of war.

This tough-gog drama don't lve too eply to the Party's ial nflict over homosexualy, but do touch on the labelg of gay men wh the Pk Triangle, makg them perhaps even more reviled than the Jews (Clive Owen picks the yellow Star of David symbol over the triangle, figurg beg a Jew might actually help him survive). As JW3, the Jewish muny centre north London, lnch GayW3, celebratg the liv of the LGBTQ muny throughout history to the prent day through film, theatre, mic and discsn, and upliftg Brish-Israeli documentary Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?, backed by the BFI, prepar for s cema release, now is a great time to look back at the bt of Jewish and Israeli LGBT cema.

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

Gay Jewish characters have been the subject of great films om around the world, and the list below featur films om the UK, France, Germany, the US, and, of urse, Israel. A number of Brish films jt missed the list, cludg Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), which Jewish doctor Peter Fch enjoyed Brish cema’s first male-on-male kiss; award-wng short film Sidney Turtlebm (2008), starrg Derek Jabi as an elrly gay Jewish pickpocket and nman; and Lisa Gornick’s latt film, The Book of Gabrielle (2016), a funny and sharp study of a Jewish lbian whose sexualy is thrown to turmoil. The 10 films foc on culturally Jewish films featurg gay and lbian protagonists, almost all of which were directed by Jewish filmmakers.

ERNST RöHM, THE HIGHT-RANKG GAY NAZI

His adaptatn of Mart Crowley’s play, about a group of gay men who gather for Harold’s party, rultg a cel eveng of sadistic gam and sabotage, me at the wrong time – as the gay liberatn movement tablished s voice the early 1970s, negative or prsg pictns of gay men the media were seen as archaic and obstctive to progrs. While Michael, the pathetic protagonist, is ed an unlikeable and self-pyg monster, the other characters are far more sympathetic, while the glor Harold, utterly unashamed of his homosexualy and wh nothg to hi, emerg om the rnage unsthed. Torch Song Trilogy (1988)Harvey Fierste is bt known for his stage work, particularly for wrg the books for the stage mils La Cage x Foll and Kky Boots, jog Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman as Broadway legends who happened to be both gay and Jewish.

IN 'GREAT FREEDOM,' A MAN IS EED OM THE NAZIS, AND RE-IMPRISONED FOR BEG GAY

The star of the show, though, is Fierste, who mak Arnold a lovable, vulgar and believably human figure who challenged the perceptn of drag queens as sexls clowns shamg the gay muny.

He kicked off his short reer wh Driftg (1982), a grim, semi-tobgraphil tale of a gay filmmaker tryg and failg to fd love and fundg for his next film. Amazg Grace, ma nearly a later, is a much stronger piece of work, about two gay men – one an nocent teenager om a troubled fay, the other an HIV patient – who fall for each other after meetg Tel Aviv.

In Man Is a Woman, he brgs all his nsirable charm and charisma to the role of Simon, a gay Klezmer mician who is offered 10 ln ancs om his tradnalist uncle if he agre to marry a woman.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME

Is the meang of the film’s tle, explaed at the vibrant Jewish weddg that starts the film, a homophobic nonsense? An attempted kiss at a New Year’s Eve party velops to a passnate romance, but the vlently homophobic and antisemic world of wartime Berl threatens their happs. Few gay and lbian survivors were alive to tell their stori when Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman ma their important documentary Paragraph 175, whose tle riv om the German act of law prohibg gay sex, which ntued to exist to the 1990s.

GAY MEN UNR THE NAZI REGIME - PHOTOGRAPHS

Rather than producg a para of cshed victims, the film foregrounds the sharp mentary of Gad Beck, a Jewish gay man who helped refuge pe; the wistful memori of love lost om Hez F., still too guard to reveal his full name; and the undiluted anger of Pierre Seel, who was tortured by Nazi officers. Luckily, Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Wtfeldt, who wrote and star as said let’s-give--a-whirl ‘lbians’, have w and chemistry on their si and create the neart cema has e to a gay Woody Allen movie. The nflict between homosexualy and Orthodox Judaism has been explored a number of excellent documentari, cludg Tremblg Before G-d (2001), Keep Not Silent (2005) and Jesalem Is Proud to Prent (2008).

Yossi (2012)Eytan Fox is one of Israel’s foremost directors, and all of his films foc on gay characters, often g homosexualy to ment on a wir theme, such as self-realisatn Mossad thriller Walk on Water (2004) or the Israeli–Paltian nflict The Bubble (2006).

Where Amos Guttman wallowed the sadns of gay liv, workg as he was an era of fear and prejudice durg the AIDS crisis, Fox’s films are more optimistic and celebratory, if ocsnally btersweet. (2016)After a year on the ftival circu, where won the documentary award at the Berl Film Ftival and the dience award at the UK Internatnal Jewish Film Ftival, Barak and Tomer Heymann’s feature about the life of Saar Maoz, an HIV posive gay man livg London after beg rejected by his Israeli fay and driven away om his Kibbutz, is fally gettg a short cema release April 2017. Saar fds acceptance the welg arms of the London Gay Men’s Chos, but the need to heal the rift between him and his fay leads him to ntemplate returng to Israel for good.