Bent

I happened upon this movie in the "Sundance Film Recommends" section, and didn't even read the box before renting it. The name of the film sounded familiar...as it turns out, it was from a bit of miscellaneous info stashed in my brain: Jude Law IS in this movie. Saying that, however, blink and you'll miss him. His role is exactly 2 lines, and he wears an eyepatch, so for those Jude fans on the prowl for great eye-candy, you may be disappointed.

Granted, you will not be disappointed with this movie as a whole. I was extremely moved by this picture; it has the wonderful, heart-wrenching quality that only a great play can produce, mixed with a very compelling lead actor and fabulous supporting cast.

Clive Owen as Max was a wake-up call; at the end you may be asking yourself, "where can I see more of this actor??". He plays his character with beauty, strength, and emotion under conditions that no lving thing should have to endure.

The rest of the cast is equally wonderful, especially Ian McKellan as Uncle Freddie. He adds that special charm that we expect from his performances, no matter how small the role.

This movie requires an open mind, and the ability to not deny the reality of horrific, true events of the past. Above all, to not deny the importance of love, that which always tests and strengthens the human spirit.

I sat down to watch this movie, and I was completely drawn into it. By the end, i thought that only 15 minutes had passed instead of an hour and a half. The subject matter (homosexual persecution during the Holocaust) was approached with the right amount of dignity and respect. Bent, furthermore, has the most powerful and original love scene that I have ever seen. I do feel that it needed more character development, but regardless it is an intensely psychological and powerful movie.

Only half way through this film did I remember having seen a small theatre production of the play in Los Angeles a dozen years ago. I only remembered when the rock-moving scenes began. I don't recall being particularly moved by the play -- it may have been a condensed 1-act version or something. I only remember thinking it was too "talky." But, the film was very powerful and moving and enraged me! I'm also older and more aware of prejudice on every level. Every gay person...or minority of any kind (race, religion, etc.) should see this film just to remind them (us) of just HOW BAD it can get and how "humans" can become such sick animals as the Nazis were in this film. I kept thinking: "Hey, how can they keep blaming Hitler, when he was not there ordering the guards to torture and ENJOY hurting people like that?" Powerful film!

Clive Owen plays Max, a loose, carefree, and cowardly playboy who is caught by Nazis along with his gay partner and shipped off to the Dachau concentration camp to do hard labor. He pretends to be in the yellow star unit meaning that he is Jewish instead of the pink triangle unit meaning that he is gay. But he meets a member of the pink triangle named Horst who he befriends and begins developing feelings for as they work day after day moving rocks from one place to another. The film is based on a play of the same name that gained much critical acclaim and won many awards. One viewer may realize this very quickly upon watching this movie as the film does feel quite staged. film works as a message film, the message being "be yourself". The film nails this concept pretty much solidly. Unfortunately, there are some distractingly bad flaws here. As I mentioned earlier, the film is incredibly staged. The film doesn't feel like reality. There are scenes that are so stage like in execution, it almost incites an unintentional laugh. There's even a scene of violence that feels extremely prepared and strangely very dance like. It's really too bad because there are some fantastic scenes herein. There is an orgy scene early in the film that is full of erotic passion and beauty. There are some harrowing scenes that take place on the train that are pretty disturbing. And there is an early scene involving Mick Jagger that is pretty interesting. Overall, even though it's interesting, moving and well acted, it's a poor film. There are some undeniably powerful scenes, but there isn't enough there for me. I recommend it if it sounds interesting to you. Just be prepared for some really sloppy directing.

Kuranosuke Sasaki who is my favorite actor acted in the play "Bent". I wanted to see him, so I decided to watch it without taking it too seriously. However, after the play, I regretted watching it with a light heart because it was so tragic that my heart could not bear. Since I already knew the story, I also watched the film version. This is the story of gays under control of Nazis. It is famous that Jewish put on the yellow star, but for the first time I know gays are also the target of holocaust and have the pink mark on their chest. In the situation that human is not treated as human, gays survive with the dignity and love of human beings. I feel sad, dark, disappointed and don't like such an ending. However, I think this important story should be handed down from generation to generation.