Sergent Major Eismayer

I am a hopeless romantic.... I was born (1972) nto a family of 14 and 8-boys and 5- -girls , I was the 3rd from the youngest...So many movies have won and broke my heart and it's it's for once in my life fulfilling after so much adversity and opposition regardless of what has been opposed either by family... Society and Religion. This movie transcends History documented and not before History was recorded...Know this. My Mother and Dad had a hard time as most do.. Dad born in in 1929 and Mom in 1933 was my greatest fear of losing.. They told me I was still their son and they would always love me.

It's hard to find shows with gay male leads and storylines. So when I came across this film; my attitude was I settle for this . It didn't look like much. It's an indie film, looks low budget, but the characters and storyline kept me glued to the movie. In fact I'd watch it again. During the climax of the movie is where I could not stop smiling.

There's just something indescribably beautiful about the characters the actors and storyline .

Gay love is amazing and beautiful and so were these two. And it's based off of a true story of the two men who are actually still enlisted active duty to this day.

I hope there's more films for us gay men in the future .

I approached this film with some trepidation due to the setting in the army, something I'm not usually keen on watching. I needn't have feared. Army life was an integral part of the film, just as the burgeoning fascination of Charles Eismayer and Mario Falak with each other was. This was based on a real-life romance although I don't know how much was fictionalised.

Swarthy Luka Dimic playing Mario would be enough to melt anyone's heart. He did a great job, at his real age of 36, of portraying a much younger recruit. Gerhard Liebmann plays a wonderful rôle of playing the buttoned-up, closeted sergeant major.

As the story unfolds via a lovemaking scene of exquisite tenderness and passion (my goodness, Dimic's lips) we reach the inevitable conclusion. The photo of the real couple shown at the end is a good finishing touch.

For those who ask what a hunky youth sees in a far older martinet, well, there are many such relationships in both the gay and straight worlds. True love knows no age boundaries. My soul mate is thirty five years younger than me!

This film should appeal not only to niche audiences but to a wider public accepting of the revolution in morality that has taken place over the past few decades. A definite recommend.

It takes balls to make a movie about a gay couple in the Austrian army knowing that it's such a niche audience.

It takes even bigger balls to do what Eismayer did. In real life.

And it takes the biggest balls ever to be Mario Falak. To live openly as a gay man in the Austrian military at that time.

Respect to all!

Now, about the movie. Well... nothing special to be honest. Very low budget. Very bare bones, minimalistic production. Nothing fancy here. It's just good! After all, it's the story that matters the most, not the production.

However, as others have pointed out already, the movie leaves a lot of info out. We don't get to see how the two men fall in love. One moment they are having sex for the first time, the next thing we know, they are living together and behaving like a couple who's been together for 20 years. It doesn't work that way. It took 43 minutes for the movie to get to the part where they cross that bridge. It shouldn't have.

But these are all pacing and storytelling issues. Can't expect perfection from a small team. I'm just glad that movies like this one are being made, for people like me, who want those kind of stories. And I'm here for it! Considering what they had to work with, I'd say they did a fantastic job.

When I first read the synopsis of 'Eismayer', I thought "god, is it going to be another 'The Sergent (1968)' or 'Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)'?". But thank god, time's changed.

I've been living in West Europe as an immigrant for barely about 15 years, and couldn't know it first hand like the locals - but I've seen how much has changed within those decade and and a half alone regarding gay rights and overall acceptance of different sexualities. In that context, older Charlie's fear and self-hate about his sexuality is just as real as younger Mario's 'I'm here, I'm queer' attitude. But in the end, we see it's the Mario's generation and their attitude that is the future. Their happy ending feels dearer because it is not any more a secret in the closet or a lonely fight against the world. Come out and embrace your love, and people will be be happy for you.

'Eismayer' is pretty much a conventional drama, not an artistic marvel. But it's well made, well acted and down-to-earth. Recommended.