 "Truly Amazing..." | 2008-04-26 |
| - Reviewed By jolelikamgr |
| This DVD was shown at a campus-wide event sponsored by the Ally Group called "DocuMovie Night". Reception of the message was fantastic. Everyone present enjoyed all of the facts and ideas presented and, following the stunned/shocked silence following the showing, we had a great discussion. No one who watched this DVD was prepared in the least for one of the greatest and still mostly untold horror of WWII. Truly a MUST-SEE. |
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| "Sad but True" | 2007-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1OA8NQ8J9FAKY |
| Anyone interested in hate and intolerance issues around the globe today, or wants to educate others, will need to watch this DVD.This dark period of history can be repeated and is being done now in parts of our world where minorities and people who are different are marginalized and threatened. |
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| "Personal freedom" | 2007-03-30 |
| - Reviewed By mcl-hroger |
| This excellent documentary will make fascinating viewing for anyone interested in gay history, the history of the Nazi period, or human rights. Apart from the human interest side, Paragraph 175 is a salutary lesson in just how fragile many of our personal liberties really are. The film reminds us how changed, even tolerant, German society seemed to have become by the early 1930's, and how quickly, and completely, that was undone by the Nazis. Even in an apparently highly civilized society, human rights should never be taken for granted, nor should their protection be left to others - we all need to be vigilant. Someone else's fate today may well be ours tomorrow. |
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| "DOCUMENTING HATE" | 2006-12-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3Q1GB17EH17UD |
"PARAGRAPH 175"
Documenting Hate
Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride
A companion piece to "Bent", "Paragraph 175" (New Yorker Video) is a documentary on the Treatment of gays at the hands of the Nazis. By the year 1920, Berlin had become the homosexual Eden and homosexual men and women lived open lives in a world where being different seemed to be the rule. When the Nazis began their rise to power this changed and over 100,000 men were arrested between 1933 and 1945. Their crime was homosexuality and they were arrested under the extremely strange Paragraph 175, a sodomy provision of the penal code which dated back to 1871. Some men were sent to prison, the majority were sent to concentration camps and of the 100,000 only 4,000 survived. Today, less then ten of them still live and f that number, five have come forward to tell the story of the Nazi persecution. What they does s shed light on a period of history which has been hidden for too long. The moving testimonies they give are pieced together with provocative photos as questions of memory, history and identity are raised in this wonderful, but heartbreaking, documentary.
We ear from a gay Jewish resistance fighter who helped refugees in Berlin, from a Jewish lesbian who managed tot escape to England, a German Christian photographer who was imprisoned because he was gay and when released joined the army to be with men and a French Alsatian who watched as his lover was tortured and murdered in the camps. As they speak your heart breaks a little and these stories are real and devastating. You hear one man tell how he stood by as his lover was devoured by German Shepherds and from the gay man who managed to help his Jewish lover go free and then watch him run to his family so that he could die with them.
The movie documents the fall of the decadent golden days of Berlin and how gay men were taken prisoner because of innuendo or simply gossip. It is impossible not to admire the survivors who came forward to take part in this important film. The stories are real and the people are real and the emotions you will feel when you watch this are very real. It is impossible not to be struck almost senseless by what you see and hear here.
It is even hard to think about how this film was made. There are only a few survivors left and people are not eager to talk about this period. We have had many films that deal with holocaust material but gays and the holocaust has been almost completely ignored. What is sp interesting in "Paragraph 175" is that what we have is experience and emotions, we see them and we hear them and we are lucky for this because they will be gone soon.
Basically a series of interviews, the documentary has interspersed actual footage of the time with the people speaking and it is done very professionally. When we consider how many movies and documentaries have already been made about the darkest period in history but this one is special--IT IS ABOUT US. It was only 74 years old that this happened and it is almost inconceivable that it took that long to have a movie made about the treatment of gays during that time. But now that we have it, it must be seen as it explores the terrible, horrible fate of our community. This is the most powerful 80 minutes of film I have ever seen and while it is emotional and informative it does not force issues. It made me angry and sad and the compassion I felt in the beginning for the people who shared their stories turned to rage at times. Why did we not fight back? Why did we take this? And then I realized that we had no choice, No one cared whether we lived or died and many did not believe this was happening. The movie did not have to try to depend upon human emotion, it happened naturally and this was caused by the sheer simplicity and honesty of the interviews.
The only problem with "Paragraph 175" is that it was limited and this is because there are not enough survivors alive to talk about the period. The archival footage of life under Nazism and in the concentration camps is sparse and the pool of interviewees is small. This has caused the film to have t rely on family photographed and pictures of gay and lesbian Germany from the period immediately following the first World War. The narrator, British film star, Rupert Everett is the spine of the movie.
Let's take a brief look at what Paragraph 175 said. It stated: "An unnatural sex act committed between persons of male sex is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights may also be imposed". Yet this was never enforced until the rise of Hitler. As we watch and listen to the accounts of those interviewed, we hear stories of the most repressive nature. The stories pull at the heart because unlike the Jews they have not been able to tell their stories and have not been able to hide their feelings for so long.
The penal code did not cover lesbians because lesbianism was considered curable and women, being the vessels to produce children, were not included in mass arrests. Most lesbians went into hiding or exile or married gay men.
In closing I would like to give a few statistics. Of the 100,000 men arrested for homosexuality, 50,000 went to prison and about 15,000 were sent to concentration camps were they were used for slave labor, medical experimentation and castration. Of those that survived, we only have a few left today. Paragraph 175 was not abolished after the War; in fact it stayed in effect until the late 1960s and was enforced every once in a while.
This film excels in letting people tell their stories without adding to what they say and it carefully and judiciously explains the situation of denials of the "civilized" world that regarded homosexuality as a threat to the existence of mankind. Even with the horror of the stories, "Paragraph 175" gives one faith in man and also chides the viewer into making sure that something like this will never, ever happen again. The movie is beautiful because of its importance and should be viewed and reviewed whenever we think that things are bad for us here in America.
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 "Excellent movie, minus the positive references to pedophilia" | 2006-12-17 |
| - Reviewed By mourning_cloak |
This movie is a key testament to one largely unspoken aspect of the Holocaust: the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis on gay men, and to a lesser degree on lesbians. Many of the interviews are touching and tragic, though at times the movie fragments them a bit more than is necessary.
My main criticism of the movie is that it sometimes blurs the lines between homosexuality and pedophilia. Some of the interviewees state outright that sex between adult men and boys was a healthy and even wonderful part of homosexuality in pre-war Germany. One interviewee in particular waxes eloquent about having himself "seduced" an adult man when he was but a young boy - as if an adult who lets himself "be seduced" by a child is somehow not a pedophile! This is sick and needs to be labeled as such, which the movie fails to do. And more so, it does gay people a terrible injustice because it perpetuates some of the most vile stereotypes about homosexuality.
On the flip side, none of the men interviewed spoke of having themselves molested boys, but considering the positive attitude expressed toward pedophilia, I couldn't help but imagine what some, knowing the potential criminal consequences of such an admission, were leaving out of their tales... |
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| "An extremely important human rights document" | 2006-09-19 |
| - Reviewed By davidals |
Documentarian Rob Epstein has captured as essential piece of human history, in the nick of time. The poorly documented terror aimed at gay men in Nazi-era Germany is examined in this very important and moving film.
Of those who survived, few were still living by the time Epstein made this document, and it represents a number of things - one of many eloquent reminders of human atrocities we should never be allowed to forget (and we should never allow the history to be forgotten), and a specific reminder to younger generations of gay and lesbian individuals around the globe of why we must always remain aware, attuned to our communities, and willing to fight when needed.
This is really an almost flawless film - I do have one small complaint. As with Michael Apted's MOVING THE MOUNTAIN (a reunion of the student leaders of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement), Epstein allows his camera to linger upon the tears of individuals who are reliving some extremel painful memories, a tactic I have some issues with, as I find it (at the very least) to be a little invasive, and in a film as strong (and valuable) as this one is, it's a tactical misstep.
This minor gripe aside, this is one of the more historically important documentaries to appear in recent years. See it.
-David Alston |
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