Great Freedom

"Große Freiheit" must become a cult. Because of the great performances of all the actors, and the extraordinary performance of Franz Rogowski. Because of the deeply moving and tender stories of love and friendship it is about. Because of the historical accuracy with which the system of oppression against homosexual people in Germany is described, a system that survived unaltered from the Nazi regime to post-war Germany until the abolition of infamous law 175 in 1973. Because of the force with which the existential condition of prisoners is portrayed, as well as that of outcasts of society, a force that finds its equal and source in Genet and in Fassbinder, among many others. Because it is a cry for help, and a cry for justice at the same time, because it shows pain and endurance, violence and strength, dispair and its antidote - the wondrous human ability to feel compassion.

This superbly made prison movie is one of the few that put homosexuality in the epicentre. Great Freedom centers around the postwar life path of a German homosexual which more often than not leads him to incarceration whenever he exercises his Freedom of choice. The irony of the German modernity miracle is plain to see.

The protagonist's -played by Rogowski- pathway intertwines more and more with another inmate's, a drug addict played by Friedrich. Both actors performances are exemplary and the latter shines particularly towards the end.

The film has a low profile, recreating a realistic and moody representation of 1950s- 1970s. There are few colours, just a dark grey and washed away blue are used that help acclimatise the viewer. The incorporation of the 'Great step for mankind' into the prison's microcosm is another brilliant moment.

Understandably, many people will consider this a movie about true love. Whatever that means. More generally, it is a story about human condition and the effort to retain one's defining qualities, our humanity in the most arid wastelands. Ultimately, as Rilke would have put it, this can only be a tale about loneliness.

An emblematic scene arises at the court when the judges clinically y summarise Rogowski's moral crimes and deprivation. The bureaucratic onslaught carried out with impeccable bureaucratic professionalism and disregard for human life leaves the audience numb and speechless.

To capitalism critics the movie offers a striking parable to former-communist countries collapse. The Great Freedom they were promised, never realised. This can explain the last scene, which I nevertheless find more convincing than Moonlight's far-fetched virginity supposition.

This explored something rarely seen in prison movies, same-sex love more specifically in a post-Nazi Germany before they abolished Paragraph 175, a German law that criminalized sexual acts between men.

Emotional, slow, tender, powerful, violent, unpleasant, and tense with great performances by everyone while navigating multiple timelines effortlessly.

First, it's not true this is the first film that deals with the infamous Paraghraph 175 of Germany. Just to name a few (because I can't claim I watched all the films in the world), there's cinema verite style 'Jagdszene aus Niederbayerm', 70's melodrama 'Die Konsequenz', and the whole dedicated documentary 'Paragraph 175'...

But unlike in the UK media where the anniversary of 1967 legalization of homosexuality is celerbrated with TV specials and dramas, Germany has been definitely sluggish to recognize the victims of Pink Triangle that carried into post war West Germany. Only in 2018, the German president officially apologized about the unjustly penalized gays in the past... so overall it is a welcome in itsef that we finally see a major production that portrays the misery and consequence P.175 created.

It is polished, well acted, pretty down to earth and at times hard hitting film. But it's also slow, not particularly innovative or gripping. I can't vision this film becoming a world wide sensation a la 'the Brokeback Mountain'.

But what this 2 hour long film does clearly demonstrates is how a taboo and penalization against nature can kill the free spirit of a person... While we see Hans getting somewhat more comfortable in the prison environment and even learn to use the system to his advantage over the 3 decades of in and out of impresonment, we see how the experience has killed his spirit in the last scene where he is supposed to savour the 'great freedom' that has finally arrived. I'm from the culture where homosexuality remains a huge taboo if not illegal... and even now living in a different country where 'it's OK to be gay', I find myself still constantly self-regulating and cover up about my sexuality. It is unimaginable what kind psychological damage the genration who suffered what Hans has carried in them.

As miserable as is, I think it's always important to address the past. For the generation who thinks gay right is the given right and the Pride means just a party, it is important to watch such a reminder of how fragile our freedom really is, the impact of a single law can have on an individual's life, and thus, in extension, the importance of our political choice... especially living the current time of the regression.

You're not like them, incarceration is imposed, you have no right to act in ways you're predisposed, it's an outrage, a disease, we will use our expertise, into the cell, you'll go to hell, you've been exposed.

It's important to remember the inhuman things governments (often elected but not always) did to people who didn't conform to their misguided beliefs, doctrine and dogma. Here, the always impressive Franz Rogowski gives us Hans, a perpetually convicted gay man who spends most of his adult days behind bars, just for being himself. Ably supported by a host of fine performances, you're left wondering how many people over the ages have been persecuted in this way and how many are still living in fear today in some parts of the world.