Bent
"Intense, moving and completely unforgettable!" -Movie Magazine International
Renowned British stage director Sean Mathias directs Martin Sherman's "powerful and proactive" (The New York Times) screenplay about one man's struggle to maintain his dignity while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. Featuring exceptional performances by Lothaire Bluteau (Black Robe), Clive Owen (Gosford Park), Brian Webber, Ian McKellen (The Lord Of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) and Mick Jagger, Bent will "grab filmgoers by the heart" (Rex Reed)!
Max (Owen) is a handsome young man who, after a fateful tryst with a German soldier, is forced to run for his life. Pursued and captured, Max is placed in a concentration camp where he pretends to be Jewish-because in the eyes of the Nazis, gays are the lowest form of human being. But it takes a forbidden relationship with an openly gay prisoner to teach Max that without the love of another, life is not worth living.
Member Reviews
Like nothing you have seen before - Dave18
Very disturbing subject matter, but well worth seeing. Clive Owen, not in the kind of action role you typically associate him with, turns in a masterful acting performance. Mick Jagger is perfect in a very entertaining cameo role. It's really more of a "filmed play" than a movie, but then again, it started out on the stage in London's West End, and I can understand why it was a big hit there.Brutality. Survival. Love. - cathyottawa
Once again we have a misleading descriptor.
Max (Clive Owen) isn't bisexual. He's gay. He doesn't "betray" his lover, Rudy, he simply does what he has to to survive given an impossible situation. And he doesn't come to "accept his sexual identity". He's always accepted it. He's openly gay. He only hides his homosexuality again for survival's sake.
This film doesn't really tell the homosexual holocaust experience. It doesn't show us that gays are treated any better or worse than other camp internees (again, as the descriptor suggests). And we only meet two characters at Dachau.
This film is about one man's story of survival and love during his brutal stay at Dachau. It's about the psychological torture he endures, more than the physical brutality (though there is some of that, or coarse).
This is a strange film, that isn't perfect. The story doesn't really go anywhere, and was that Mick Jagger in drag? Yikes! But Clive Owen gives a stellar performance, and shares some unforgettable scenes with Lothaire Bluteau, his love interest. They have some of the sexiest non sex I've ever seen, gay or straight.
Finally, a word about the "star studded cast". Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, Sadie Frost, and Paul Bettany all have miniscule, mostly unspeaking roles. Blink and you'll miss them. Ian McKellan also has little more than a cameo. This is Clive Owen's picture.Bent - robaire
I have waited the last twelve years of my life to see this movie. Couldn't find it anywhere until I finally joined up here. Having finally seen I must say that I wish I had actually seen the stage production. I can see where they had difficulties translating stage directions into a film version. Still, I would recommend this film to everyone. It covers a part of the Holocuast that is hardly mentioned, or ignored all together in the "official" accounts of this dark chapter of history.
The fact that many homosexuals who were imprisoned during the second world war and were then later transferred to civilian prisons when Germany captiulated is another sad fact that is rarely mentioned.
Aside from being an important history lesson, it is ultimately a triumphant love story told by a powerful cast. 10 thumbs up......assuming I had ten.
Member Reviews
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Like nothing you have seen before - Dave18
Very disturbing subject matter, but well worth seeing. Clive Owen, not in the kind of action role you typically associate him with, turns in a masterful acting performance. Mick Jagger is perfect in a very entertaining cameo role. It's really more of a "filmed ...Brutality. Survival. Love. - cathyottawa
Once again we have a misleading descriptor.
Max (Clive Owen) isn't bisexual. He's gay. He doesn't "betray" his lover, Rudy, he simply does what he has to to survive given an impossible situation. And he doesn't come to "accept his sexual identity". ...Bent - robaire
I have waited the last twelve years of my life to see this movie. Couldn't find it anywhere until I finally joined up here. Having finally seen I must say that I wish I had actually seen the stage production. I can see where they had difficulties translating ...