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Title Bent Year 1997
Director Sean Mathias Writer Martin Sherman
Cast Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Ian McKellen, Mick Jagger, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brian Webber, Jude Law, Gresby Nash, Suzanne Bertish, David Meyer
Movie links http://www.mgm.com/bent/ (official website)

Back to top Synopsis

A suave, debonair playboy, Max (played by Clive Owen), is living the decadent and promiscuous Berlin nightclub life. Though he is dedicated to his lover Rudy (played by Brian Webber), who performs in the cabaret, he can't resist the attractive German soldier that catches his eye during a raucous night at Greta's club.

Like everyone else at the club that night, they are oblivious to the reign of terror that is about to drive them underground. It is the infamous Night of the Long Knives and Max's one-night-stand, an associate of the homosexual Nazi Commander Ernst Rohm, doesn't live to see the morning. Although Max and Rudy escape, the Gestapo follows.

Like the erstwhile androgynous Greta (played by Mick Jagger), who burns all her dresses and begins a new life as "George," Berlin is changing. Years before the true commencement of the Holocaust, Hitler has reenacted the little-used German law Paragraph 175 (see also Paragraph 175), making homosexuality illegal. This political step, coupled with the murderous actions of Hitler's secret police, sends a clear message to the homosexual community of Berlin: deny your sexuality or flee.

In a desperate fight for survival, Max contacts his Uncle Freddie (played by Sir Ian McKellen) to make a deal that will get himself and Rudy safely across the border to Amsterdam. But before they can escape, they are rounded up like stray dogs and shuffled aboard a train headed for Dachau.

In the indignity of a filthy crowded train car, a fellow prisoner, Horst (played by Lothaire Bluteau), teaches Max how to cope with the new order. To make it off the train, he must harden his heart. He must do what the Gestapo tells him including aiding in the brutal torture and murder of his lover anything to stay alive.

In the harsh conditions of the work yard at Dachau, Horst teaches Max another life-saving lesson not about the survival of the body but the survival of the heart. Though the two men cannot touch, they find a way to make love. Despite the agony, despite the scrutiny, Max learns through his powerful bond with Horst that survival, like intimacy, has less to do with the flesh than with personal truth and fundamental human dignity.

Back to top Gay Interest

It is the story of gay men in a concentration camp in Germany.

Back to top Personal review

I havent seen this movie yet. My personal opinion will be online as soon as I have seen it personally.

So check this page for it later.

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Bent poster Mick Jagger as Greta Lothaire Bluteau as Horst Clive Owen as Max Brian Webber's as Rudy Sir Ian Mckellen as Uncle Freddie Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent Bent

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