Great Freedom

Objective Rating: This movie is very good. I found that this film portrays the theme of gay prisons in post-Nazi Germany very well before Paragraph 175 was deleted. This film may of course be included in the list of other popular gay-themed films. Alas, in my personal opinion: The fictional story of this film bothers me a lot. At first I confused the chronology of this movie to understand what moment we are in. The next biggest obstacle is the scene asking for oral sex, which I think lacks motivation. I mean, he was just curious and wanted to try. Because we didn't showed enough sexual attraction. Lastly when the ending of this film somehow feels ironically hopeless (the great freedom he finally found after they abolished Paragraph 175 was having to go back to that prison), I doubt it will become a cult. Still, I like the optimistic side of the expressionless Hans Hoffman character's desperate expression. Such a good mood, fearless and moving.

The movie "Great Freedom" emphasizes how a simple paragraph of the German Criminal Code punished same-sex relationships for more than a century in Germany. Director and writer Sebastian Meise purposely place two incarcerated individuals in the same prison cell for a certain period of time: one for being a criminal and the other just for being homosexual. Two marginalized characters who accept their fates and the bitterness of their lives. The sad and lonely life of homosexual Hans Hoffmann, from suffering in concentration camps to prison in the 20th century, hasn't changed anything: the tortures, prejudices, and tattoos marks were the same, whether under the Nazi regime or under the American allies regime post-war. It's impossible not to think about so many real gays who went through the same or even worse situations. Actor Franz Rogowski as the homosexual Hans Hoffmann and Georg Friedrich as Viktor are spectacular, their performances are breathtaking, and they emanate originality and precision throughout the movie. This movie is a great tribute to everyone who hasn't been able to experience love simply because their partner is of the same sex. It's sad to read some reviews of the movie, I don't think the movie is perfect myself but watch it with Paragraph 175 in mind and the historical value this movie carries, we wouldn't speak freely about LGBTQ+ today. This film is fictional but history teaches this film is more of a documentary.

It's really quite rare that a queer romance movie is really done well. I just enjoy seeing queer love represented so well and I also felt like I learned something from this movie. It is not usually talked about how persecuted gay people have been and in most places still really are. This movie really beautiful!! The acting is heartbreaking and beautiful. I saw it in a theater and I can't wait to hopefully see it again and to own it soon. The only reason I give it a 9, is because the end was a little open ended and i don't tend to like those endings... lol.

I was not aware that the US sent gays directly from Nazi concentration camps to German prisons after the Nazis were defeated. This is a powerful film about a man who never loses his capacity to love another human being or to distinguish between right and wrong. In his quiet way, he is a hero. With each film, Rogowski, is more amazing.

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.

This explored something rarely seen in prison movies, same-sex love more specifically in a post-Nazi Germany before they abolished Paragraph 175, a German law that criminalized sexual acts between men. Emotional, slow, tender, powerful, violent, unpleasant, and tense with great performances by everyone while navigating multiple timelines effortlessly.

Remember how much pain you were in after watching Brokeback Mountain? Well with this one it's going to feel 100x worse. In my opinion everyone should consider watching this movie. To my knowledge it is the first movie (not documentary) about how lgbt people were treated in Nazi and post-war Germany. And so in a way it's a bit of an educational movie for people who are unaware about those parts of history. The acting is pretty good and perfectly communicates tentative intimacy and affection in such a harsh environment. I hope the leading stars get to act in more movies. In the screenings I attended there was no one under the age of 35 and my same-age peers expressed they did not want to see it because it sounded too miserable. I will not lie, it is miserable until the very end. But I believe it depicts a very important and part of lgbt history where the brutality should not be downplayed.

Summary: This remarkable film by Sebastian Meise is not the typical prison film full of harassment, violence and brutal sex, but one where nobility and love can make their way through the cracks in a system where the lack of freedom looms over its protagonist inside but also outside of prison, thanks to a legal system that penalized homosexuality in Germany from 1875 well into the 20th century. Review: The film follows the three stays in a German prison of Hans Hoffmann, convicted of the application of paragraph or article 175 of the German Penal Code that considered homosexual relations between males illegal since 1875, whose penalties the Nazi regime intensified and that followed in force for several years in what was West Germany. This remarkable film by the Austrian Sebastian Meise (winner of the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival) could be framed between two ironic situations, corresponding to the beginning and the end of the narrated odyssey. The first irony, related to the title of the film, is that the occupation of Germany by the allies did not mean freedom for Hans, since they continued to apply German law. The second (and risky on the part of the director and co-writer) will be left to the viewer's consideration. Great Freedom takes place in different decades, almost entirely in the prison where Hans is serving his sentences, the way in which the director hits the jumps between the different timelines being original. There we see the evolution of his relationship with Viktor (Georg Friedrich) throughout those stays and his links with Leo (Anton von Lucke, whom we saw in Babylon Berlin) and Oskar (Thomas Prenn, actor in the series Biohackers) . In a moving but harsh way and with such an Austrian dryness, the film shows us a protagonist willing to channel his desire and even love, with all the noble that it can imply, in the adverse conditions of the prison environment. But Meise's film is not that typical prison film full of harassment, violence and brutal sex, but one with men trying to help and also love each other through the loopholes that the system allows them and where the lack of freedom looms about the protagonist inside but also outside the prison and about the spectator. Within a very good cast, the extraordinary performance of Franz Rogowski (Undine, Transit, Franz) stands out, capable of transmitting with gesture, voice and body (and its physical transformations) and with a concentrated sobriety all the suffering, the nobility and love of his Hans.

A bitter and painful story about being gay in an intolerant time. The pain and bitterness I can endure, but not the slowness. The movie was stretched for too long. So many unnecessary scenes which can be summarized in 10 minutes. Also there was no strong chemistry between Hans and the teacher. I don't know if that's the actors fault or the director's. Bottom line, there's much room for improvements in this movie. I don't really like this drama. I gave it 6 for the historical aspect.

Great Freedom.takes place in the post war era, after the second world war till the late 60's, after the May of 1968. It begins with Hans, the main character which is being uniquely performed by Franz Rogowski, staying in a correctional institution during the year of 1968 without any kind of privacy (his love life is being recorded and that love life has been defined as a criminal offence). It is a fictional story including a documentary style, exploring the different years in the life of Hans. We see him in concentration camps and correctional institutions, not in a.yearly way but in a way that gives answers about his situation in 1968 while something else had happened in 1945. He falls in love, he changes his style, he finds small doses of freedom and ways to live. Living under restricted orders and practically behind bars for years without having a normal free life but only a few moments of pleasure, has added to his watsowever optimistic character a side of desperation. Cannot even believe that the law has changed when he looks at a magazine defining his existance as legal and that would make him a free man. Meise talks about Paragraph 175 by using two love stories in the life of Hans. Paragraph 175 was introduced in Germany during the 19th century and it was stricktly followed during the nazism era. According to that Paragraph, homosexual relationships between men were out of law and they were considered to have been criminal with mental issues. That wouldn't change till 1969. The amazing photography of Crystel Fournier cannot be unobserved when it contains the blue of nouvelle vague. If love sets you free then that wouldn't happen in this film. Hans is losing two stable relationships due to legal reasons.