Bent

I had seen the play on Broadway twice, once with Richard Gere and David Dukes, and once with Michael York and Jeffrey DeMunn. The movie is very faithful to the play and was just as interesting, which usually is not the case. Mick Jagger is great as Greta. All in all, I'd recommend this movie and did not find it pretentious in the least.

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.

This journey is filled with seductive images and feelings-feelings that we tend to forget until we are reminded that life can change on a dime-

There is a scene on the way to Dachau where the Max (Clive Owen) has to denounce knowing his friend..." He is not my friend".....reminicient of Judas denying Jesus....was it to save himself or his friend....the answer comes when one cannot no longer deny who you are- facing your truth brings-reclaiming your dignity-Max's final journey.

Lothair (Jesus of Montreal) and a new-comer, Jude Law (The Talent Mr. Ripley) add to make up a fine cast.

Splendid job by all-especially Mr.Clive Owen.

Take the journey -it's worth your time.

When Martin Sherman's play first appeared (with Ian McKellen as Max and Tom Bell as Horst) it caused outrage and much discussion with its sympathetic and frank treatment of forbidden love in the age of the SS.

Here it has undergone a few changes but retains its stark power. Clive Owen (probably not my first choice for the role) plays Max, the homosexual who pretends to be a Jew so he is not at the bottom of the pecking order of prisoners. The way the SS force him to prove his sexuality is shocking whether on the printed page, in a theatre, or up on the big screen. Brian Webber plays his intellectual lover Rudy with some class and it is a brief but touching performance.

Lothaire Bluteau, who I had only seen before in 'Jesus of Montreal', was brilliant in the role of Horst, the prisoner with the pink triangle who awakens Max again from his imprisoned desires. There are quiet and intense scenes between the two that are almost unbearably moving to watch, and are done within this film extremely well.

Elsewhere in the cast, Ian McKellen himself plays Uncle Freddie (but those of us who saw him as Max would love to have seen that portrayal immortalised on screen), while Mick Jagger is surprisingly good as Greta (a role which could easily be played wrong but he's spot on).

This play/film is intended to make its audience confront their prejudices, to shock, move, and inspire them. I think it is an unmissable experience - a difficult one, but worthwhile.

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.