You Are Not Alone

Anyone who finds this film shocking, exploitive or revolting doesn't have a closed mind; they have a problem. This film is very reminiscent of a French film version of the novel Les amitiers particulaires shot in about 1958 I think. For anyone boy or girl who has had a crush on a member of their own gender, these films tell it all. The boys in You Are Not Alone were luckier than me:-) I was absolutely nuts about some of my friends at that age and extremely attracted to them physically. Unfortunately they weren't as smitten with me as I with them. A difficult time ensued for several years, confusion and hormones raged and reigned and certain scars remain. So, it's nice to see a film where boy meets boy, and boy gets boy. Maybe it would just be a passing thing. Who knows? I think sometimes that people who rail all wholier than thou against the type of relationships depicted in these films should be subjected to unjust accusations and then come up against a gang of gay bashers. Hopefully no harm but a lesson learned and eyes opened would come of it.

Hugh

DU ER IKKE ALENE (You Are Not Alone) is a 1978 Danish landmark film written by Lasse Nielsen and Bent Petersen and directed by Nielsen and Ernst Johansen. When the period during which this film was made, a time when gay theme movies were all but verboten, this little film is a brave, delicate, tender, unpretentious tale of the bonding, both emotional and physical, that occurs between two young boys in a boarding school in Denmark. The story develops slowly and insidiously, a fact that makes some viewers find it boring or slow. But for this viewer the pacing of the story is intricately involved in this tale of the fragile first attractions that occur in young boys: everything is new, and nothing is rushed - it just happens and evolves.

Kim (Peter Bjerg) is a young prepuberal youth living with his parents: his father (Ove Sprogøe) is headmaster of a boys' school and his mother (Elin Reimer) is in line with the father's hard-line standards. Though not a student in the school, Kim does associate with the young high school age boys and finds one lad in particular, Bo (Anders Agensø), a role model who shows concern for Kim and with whom Kim bonds, emotionally and eventually physically. The manner in which this occurs is never acted out but merely suggested in the most discreet and beautiful way. But we watch as this bond develops more strongly, with each of the boys nascent to the situation in which they find themselves.

The classmates are a varied group - normal kids in a normal school situation - until one of the boys Ole (Ole Meyer), who is somewhat of a trouble-maker, posts magazine pictures of nude women in his dorm room. Reprimanded by the headmaster he is put on probation and when he ultimately posts the contraband pictures in the dorm restroom, he is threatened with expulsion. His classmates band together to protect him and Ole is maintained in the school.

Other sidebar stories that pepper the screen are swimming hole escapades where the injury of one of the boys calls forth the empathy of the entire class; there is a vignette where an older woman tries to teach one of the boys the beauties of physical love; there is a shower scene that finds Bo and Kim gently observing each other; and there is a class project for graduation that is supposed to be an enactment of the 10 Commandments, one episode of which is assigned to a student filmmaker.

It is this finished class project film, shown before the faculty and the parents, that is based on the commandment 'Love thy neighbor' and it is a beautifully wrought scene of Bo and Kim embracing and kissing in one of the more honest and sensitive moments on film. The 'non-story' film ends without an audience response: it simply fades away to a tune that speaks of 'You are not alone - there is someone like you ahead.' No, this is not a film about nudity or raw sex. Instead this film is a brave exploration of the normal period in growth when boys search for role models and find their first sensations of love emerging. It is delicate, beautifully filmed and acted, and is one of the early forays into same sex love that works on every level. Grady Harp

I would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film, although the subtitling on my copy lagged a little nearer the end.

It was a charming view of life at a Danish boarding school where two boys meet for the first time, and their friendship slowly evolves into something more. I wish that more films were like this and, having just finished watching it, I want nothing more than to start it again and watch it over, however I have to go out in 5 minutes, so I shall have to wait for tomorrow.

My only criticism is that the plot seemed to wander and be a little disordered at times. It had some, though fun, unnecessary sub-plots that could, to be honest, have been cut in order to have some more development of the two main characters, who were so well acted by the two boys.

I live every day with all the negativity that surrounds being openly homosexual in High School (I'm 14 and gay) and I can only say that I wish my own peers could be as accepting of me, and others like me as the other boys in this film, however, in our British (and even more in the US) society today, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding homosexuality and I feel that even today, thirty years after this film was originally released, most of the people I know would not be ready to see it, and that is a terrible shame as it is a fantastic film.

This is a great movie, and you will either walk away with a warm fuzzy feeling or you will simply start the move over and watch it again if, unlike me, you have the time.

This is one of those films that would be impossible to make today and that also shows how different the northern European countries have been with their openness around young kids' sexuality. The film tells a beautiful story of first love between two boys in a boarding school with the actors being the right age for a change, and even when the subject is filmed with the most delicacy and naturalism, it's also not shy in showing full fontal nudity that screams 70s and would be impossible to show today. The film is a landmark in Danish cinema and touches on all kind of important teen and preteen subjects. The only real problem that I see with it is that the structure is very lose and sometimes the main story gets lost between the multiple secondary ones.

A film that can't be viewed from a cinematographic point. Just because it's not in technique where this film achieves something. As in any film, what gives it a strong value is the story it tells.

Due Er Ikke Alene is a wonderful escape to a time lost forever. A film about life. About misery. About love and happiness. About senslessness and about achievement. About systems and counter-systems. About people who can be under extraordinary

circumstances, and be as extraordinary as they come. About challenges and victories. About sex and about understanding.

About imagination, creation and clashes. About authority and reason.

Maybe not all these things are seen at first. They are the background. The solid background that gives credibility to the characters and power to the story.

A dreamer like Aske, puts the educational system in the limelight and leads the rest to discover why young people can think and do. Why there are reasons in life more important than just "living my life". Why the others are seldom regarded as the very motivation to do anything, and, when they become part of our lives, our view of our own can change entirely.

A naïve and deeply enchanting Bo, who only will do good. The one who makes this story so moving and so deep. His emotions, his beliefs, his feelings are rooted in a wonderful soul that cares about his friends. Someone always available to give a hand. With firm convictions and reassuring when anyone needs him. The peacemaker.

A beautiful and amazing Kim. His honesty, his absolute confidence in love and his smile make of him Bo's natural friend. What really makes this character glow is his smile. He is happy with life, even when he finds the normal bumps that lead others to despair or level things out with anger. He enjoys the small things. The ones that count. From a bit of fresh air to a bottle of wine (which, he discovers, should not be abused).

Most interesting is Ole's role. His character turns the balance of the whole story into something worth studying for any teacher, school system, etc. Ole is alone. And he needs the care provided by his peers. And, eventually, even with his bully ways, he mends his life and comes to terms with the world.

The seventies were times of amazing richness, and this is shown openly here. Maybe one of the issues that make your eyes shine is the open difference between what led to some modern educational ideas and how they clashed with the old ones. This was Denmark, and it was the seventies. The final act is freakin' awesome.

Watch this film. You won't be disappointed. Watch it thinking about the story, and this time (oh, it's me saying this... I can't believe it), just this time, forget about cinematography.