Great Freedom

For two hours I chose to sit through incessant violence, injustice, humiliation, most horrible expressions of human weakness in order to see the gem of a human soul. I would refer to this one as genocide-themed or even the Holocaust but there's so much more to it. Despite the obvious background, it is all about endurance, fearlessness and as simple as it is: a Human Heart.

We're tired of Pride!", "Why Pride?" "We don't want any more Pride". Yes, I have read and heard this a lot this year, 2023. In my home country of Norway, in 2022 there was even a terrorist attack against a gay pub. Two innocent people were killed.

This film perhaps clearly shows why Pride, why Pride and gay rights are about human rights. We are not free until everyone is free. This film is strong and very current. It shows what happened to homosexuals who practiced their sexuality in the 50s and 60s. Prison where they received degrading treatment from both other inmates, staff and society's moral pointer.

As I write this, there is an increase in the number of countries where homosexuality is banned and queers are persecuted. So we need movies like this, as a constant reminder of how NOT to treat difference and gays.

The film is also an experience in itself. Character actor Franz Rogowski carries this film, mostly with what he doesn't say, but shows.

Strong stuff here.

"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.

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.

Most prison movies do not ackowledge the fact of same-sex love. Most prison movies go out of their way to ignore it. There are exceptions, such as Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), and the jail episode of Todd Haynes' portmanteau work Poison (1991). Grosse Freiheit rises above all of these by dint of its complete absence of sentimentality, the power of its performances, its complex but clearly-told time-frame, and its commitment to effectively portraying love in the hearts of otherwise lost souls. It carefully weaves imagery that would not be out of place in a novel into the story of Germany's incessant persecution of homosexual men, which only stopped when the hated paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code was reformed in 1969.

The film runs on three time lines, in the three decades during which the central character, Hans Hoffman, finds himself in jail for pursuing his desires. Production design and, especially, make-up and costume, work with enormous tact but great effectiveness to conjure up each era. The structure of the film, its story-telling, is really beautifully put together.

There are really only four main characters, of which two are our main concern. They are played brilliantly by Georg Friedrich and, as Hoffman himself, Franz Rogowski, in as shattering a screen performance as you'll ever see.

The final section of the film is perhaps a little glib, but it's a very small flaw in an otherwise masterly movie.