I sat down to watch this movie, and I was completely drawn into it. By the end, i thought that only 15 minutes had passed instead of an hour and a half. The subject matter (homosexual persecution during the Holocaust) was approached with the right amount of dignity and respect. Bent, furthermore, has the most powerful and original love scene that I have ever seen. I do feel that it needed more character development, but regardless it is an intensely psychological and powerful movie.
74 Reviews
Detailing the degradation of Nazi-regime victims...
moonspinner5528 August 2005
Homosexual playboy in 1930s Germany fights to keep himself and his gay flat-mate out of the grasp of Nazi soldiers, but they are soon rounded up and face the horrors of war. This tough-going drama doesn't delve too deeply into the Party's initial conflict over homosexuality, but it does touch on the labeling of gay men with the Pink Triangle, making them perhaps even more reviled than the Jews (Clive Owen picks the yellow Star of David symbol over the triangle, figuring being a Jew might actually help him survive). Initially arty presentation has flashes of pretension, but is still gripping on a visual and visceral level and very well-acted. It's almost two different movies, however, with a work-camp second-half given an appropriately straightforward, if unexciting, treatment. Adapted from the controversial play, the last act has perhaps more going on than is actually revealed, and the viewer may either feel the movie loses its energy and soul during this portion or that it is successful on an entirely different level. In any case, difficult as an entertainment, but certainly worthwhile for those curious about this lost chapter in history. **1/2 from ****
Heartbreaking.
adamjohns-4257515 September 2020
While I didn't spot Jude Law or Rachel Weisz, I couldn't miss Clive Owen. What a fantastic performance and a gorgeous backside. Supported by Ian McKellen and a very glam Mick Jagger, he goes on a terrible journey that I can only imagine is amazing on stage.
It wasn't as horrificly graphic as I was expecting, which was pleasing, as some concentration camp films really upset me, but it still had a strong and poignant message to tell.
I wasn't sure if the bombed out properties used at the beginning as the club and Clive's house were to represent the stage show more than a true idea of where they would actually be, but I liked its quirks and artistic direction throughout.
As much as I love Mr Owen, I think I have to say that Lothaire really gives the greatest most emotive and heartfelt performance in this film and the "No touching" scene was unbelievable.
It wasn't as horrificly graphic as I was expecting, which was pleasing, as some concentration camp films really upset me, but it still had a strong and poignant message to tell.
I wasn't sure if the bombed out properties used at the beginning as the club and Clive's house were to represent the stage show more than a true idea of where they would actually be, but I liked its quirks and artistic direction throughout.
As much as I love Mr Owen, I think I have to say that Lothaire really gives the greatest most emotive and heartfelt performance in this film and the "No touching" scene was unbelievable.
powerful
didi-55 May 2004
When Martin Sherman's play first appeared (with Ian McKellen as Max and Tom Bell as Horst) it caused outrage and much discussion with its sympathetic and frank treatment of forbidden love in the age of the SS.
Here it has undergone a few changes but retains its stark power. Clive Owen (probably not my first choice for the role) plays Max, the homosexual who pretends to be a Jew so he is not at the bottom of the pecking order of prisoners. The way the SS force him to prove his sexuality is shocking whether on the printed page, in a theatre, or up on the big screen. Brian Webber plays his intellectual lover Rudy with some class and it is a brief but touching performance.
Lothaire Bluteau, who I had only seen before in 'Jesus of Montreal', was brilliant in the role of Horst, the prisoner with the pink triangle who awakens Max again from his imprisoned desires. There are quiet and intense scenes between the two that are almost unbearably moving to watch, and are done within this film extremely well.
Elsewhere in the cast, Ian McKellen himself plays Uncle Freddie (but those of us who saw him as Max would love to have seen that portrayal immortalised on screen), while Mick Jagger is surprisingly good as Greta (a role which could easily be played wrong but he's spot on).
This play/film is intended to make its audience confront their prejudices, to shock, move, and inspire them. I think it is an unmissable experience - a difficult one, but worthwhile.
Here it has undergone a few changes but retains its stark power. Clive Owen (probably not my first choice for the role) plays Max, the homosexual who pretends to be a Jew so he is not at the bottom of the pecking order of prisoners. The way the SS force him to prove his sexuality is shocking whether on the printed page, in a theatre, or up on the big screen. Brian Webber plays his intellectual lover Rudy with some class and it is a brief but touching performance.
Lothaire Bluteau, who I had only seen before in 'Jesus of Montreal', was brilliant in the role of Horst, the prisoner with the pink triangle who awakens Max again from his imprisoned desires. There are quiet and intense scenes between the two that are almost unbearably moving to watch, and are done within this film extremely well.
Elsewhere in the cast, Ian McKellen himself plays Uncle Freddie (but those of us who saw him as Max would love to have seen that portrayal immortalised on screen), while Mick Jagger is surprisingly good as Greta (a role which could easily be played wrong but he's spot on).
This play/film is intended to make its audience confront their prejudices, to shock, move, and inspire them. I think it is an unmissable experience - a difficult one, but worthwhile.
I was moved by this movie
slayerlove139 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This is a very wordy and long-winded response to guajolotl (guajolotl@aol.com)'s comment"Yetch!": In times of desperation and fear, people do awful, incomprehensible things. Everything you know is taken away, the comfortable fears of your daily life are stripped away in an instant and you are put in a situation you are completely unprepared for: you could die. People who live like us, who live safe, cannot comprehend the stark and brutal reality of facing your own death. A drag queen that descends from the air every night to serenade a drunken, orgiastic crowd of sexual outlaws may buy their own life with the lives of others. They may embrace a wave of evil and violence so that it doesn't pick them up and drag them under and do it with the same cool smile that they display on the stage. But their song is still bittersweet and regretful, they still have money and time and information for the people they betrayed. And on a train bearing you away from everything you ever knew or imagined for yourself, an outlaw who has lived running for a year before you were tracked down like an animal, you might simply sit (eyes to the ground) while they drag someone you love away. Maybe after taking home a cute blonde only to see his throat slit by storm troopers in your living room, you would listen when someone told you that in order to survive you needed to sit and listen to them torture your lover without moving to help him. And after hours of hearing his cries and screams and being unable to do anything (because there is no way this is your life and your out of you mind with fear and pain) you would say you didn't know your lover when his limp and bloody body was dragged before you. Maybe you would listen to a nightmare voice that ordered you to beat him because there was nothing else to hear. You would follow the one instinct that they had left you, the instinct to survive. By the time they tossed his body out of the train, would you have anything left to feel? When everything had been stripped away but your own life, what wouldn't you do to save it? And maybe your redemption would lie in love. Maybe when you saw someone (someone who had screamed at you and wanted you and needed you and laughed with you even in the face of death) refuse to let you go, run straight into the arms of death rather than let it shoot them in the back, you would finally become fully human again. The agony of that loss would rip through every part of you but you would feel it, you would know that you could feel. And when you took your own life it would be with the utmost dignity; you would stop fiercely clinging to the uncertain promise of survival and wrap your hands around the walls that bound you as you flew free.
Unlucky Charms
wes-connors13 September 2008
Nazi-era playboy Clive Owen (as Max) and his dancer lover Brian Webber (as Rudy) are pursued by Nazis, after Mr. Owen is picked up by blond hunk Nikolaj Waldau (as Wolf), in a gay club. After being captured, Owen and Mr. Weber are tortured, on a train to Germany's first concentration camp, at Dachau. Also on the train, Owen meets Lothaire Bluteau (as Horst). Mr. Bluteau wears the "Pink Triangle" identifying him as a homosexual, which is considered an especially low form of human life, by the Nazis. To avoid being beaten to death, Owen pretends to be Jewish, and is given the identifying "Yellow Star". At the concentration camp, prisoners Owen and Bluteau fall in love; but, they must avoid any physical contact.
The opening club/orgy sequence is presented in a disjointed, confusing fashion. It's hard to figure out what is going on -- you should, if possible, play the opening (up until the Nazis bust into Owen's pad) twice. The cast is enhanced by cross-dressing Mick Jagger (as Greta), and the original 1979 stage production's "Max", Ian McKellen (as Uncle Freddie). Mr. Jagger also sings the haunting theme "Streets of Berlin". Director Sean Mathias and supporting actor Webber make excellent first impressions; it's strange to see so little work (film credits) immediately followed this production.
This film version of Martin Sherman's "forbidden" love story is far from perfect; but, it's still quite captivating. The extent of "man's inhumanity to man" is, as always, horrifying. The film's non-physical sex scene, performed at the concentration camp, is extremely touching.
******* Bent (1997) Sean Mathias ~ Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Mick Jagger
The opening club/orgy sequence is presented in a disjointed, confusing fashion. It's hard to figure out what is going on -- you should, if possible, play the opening (up until the Nazis bust into Owen's pad) twice. The cast is enhanced by cross-dressing Mick Jagger (as Greta), and the original 1979 stage production's "Max", Ian McKellen (as Uncle Freddie). Mr. Jagger also sings the haunting theme "Streets of Berlin". Director Sean Mathias and supporting actor Webber make excellent first impressions; it's strange to see so little work (film credits) immediately followed this production.
This film version of Martin Sherman's "forbidden" love story is far from perfect; but, it's still quite captivating. The extent of "man's inhumanity to man" is, as always, horrifying. The film's non-physical sex scene, performed at the concentration camp, is extremely touching.
******* Bent (1997) Sean Mathias ~ Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau, Mick Jagger
Tragedy abundant!
kimbistrups9 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is such an extraordinary movie, that I'm not even sure it's possible to convey it. It contains everything that a good movie should. Dynamic characters, a good plot that is not too obvious, love, hate, violence, decadence and death. All the actors are very good. Every scene seems to have a point even despite the pointlessness of the violence and the killing.
As i watched it, and time progressed I figured that the time Horst and Max spent in Dachau was supposed to be a catharsis for Max, teaching him not only that love is the only real reason to live, but also teaching him how to love! The film ends in the spring of 1945, and I was feeling so sure that the two of them would be together to experience the liberation by the Russians and so when i finally realized what was really going on I was horrified. It just seemed so pointless and meaningless. But then I suddenly got it. It was not pointless. Their lives had not been without meaning and their deaths weren't either. They loved each other and died for each other.
The film was just positively full of beautiful and captivating moments set in the stark contrast of the concentration camp. The scene where they make love without touching. The scene where Max warms Horst. The scene where Horst knows that he is going to die, and gives Max the secret signal that says he loves him. I think that he does so to save Max's life. And the very powerful scene where Max put's on Horsts shirt and kills himself.
This is a hard movie to watch. It's a hard movie to feel good about. But once I really took it in, once I understood it's underlying existentialistic points I actually did feel good about it, and would recommend it to you.
As i watched it, and time progressed I figured that the time Horst and Max spent in Dachau was supposed to be a catharsis for Max, teaching him not only that love is the only real reason to live, but also teaching him how to love! The film ends in the spring of 1945, and I was feeling so sure that the two of them would be together to experience the liberation by the Russians and so when i finally realized what was really going on I was horrified. It just seemed so pointless and meaningless. But then I suddenly got it. It was not pointless. Their lives had not been without meaning and their deaths weren't either. They loved each other and died for each other.
The film was just positively full of beautiful and captivating moments set in the stark contrast of the concentration camp. The scene where they make love without touching. The scene where Max warms Horst. The scene where Horst knows that he is going to die, and gives Max the secret signal that says he loves him. I think that he does so to save Max's life. And the very powerful scene where Max put's on Horsts shirt and kills himself.
This is a hard movie to watch. It's a hard movie to feel good about. But once I really took it in, once I understood it's underlying existentialistic points I actually did feel good about it, and would recommend it to you.
Uneven yet affecting, with a great performance from Clive Owen
Jonny_Numb23 July 2007
"Bent" is an interesting little Holocaust-film curio (based on a stage production) that looks at the death camps from a homosexual perspective. It is intermittently affecting overall, but has its moments of pretension and self-indulgence (the baroque, decadent opening in Berlin comes to mind); the film can't really shake its stage roots, either, as reflected in certain scene setups (Ian McKellen's cameo in the park feels especially artificial). While conflicted over "Bent"'s seesaw of moments both powerful and superficial, I wound up liking it. Max (Clive Owen) is a member of Berlin's decadent gay underworld before World War II; when the Germans invade, he is promptly shipped off to a labor camp. Along the way, he meets Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), a fellow prisoner who's homosexual; as the duo stacks rocks in blazing summer and freezing winter, they strike up an unconventional love affair (standing still during a 3-minute break every 2 hours, they make love verbally (and literally); these scenes are greatly affecting, with Owen and Bluteau fully convincing us of their passion. Several years before he became a household name, Owen really proved his capabilities here. Though "Bent" treads to an achingly symbolic conclusion, the effort--for the most part--is worth seeing the whole way through.
Not Completely Successful but Still Worth a Look
ScottAmundsen30 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Adapting stage plays to the screen is a process fraught with all sorts of dangers; decisions constantly must be made as to how faithful to make the adaptation. Sometimes a very courageous director will simply give the film audience basically the same thing the stage audience saw (as with THE BOYS IN THE BAND or THE BAD SEED); others will "open up" the play to make it more cinematic; the results there tend to vary from brilliant (CABARET, for example) to terrible (A CHORUS LINE).
Director Sean Mathias's film version of Martin Sherman's landmark play BENT is a harrowing look at the fate of the Gay community under Nazism told through the eyes of Max (Clive Owen), a promiscuous habitué of the boy bars who is arrested along with his boyfriend Rudy (Brian Webber) the morning after bringing home a member of the SA (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau). On the way to Dachau Max is forced to beat Rudy to death by the brutal SS guards to prove his claim that he is not homosexual; Max has decided that a yellow star (Jewish) would be less dangerous a marker than a pink triangle.
In the early scenes of the film we are given a look at the Berlin club scene; Mick Jagger has a stunning cameo as Greta, a performer at the club who knows what's coming and makes an abortive attempt to warn Max, but Max won't listen; neither will he listen to his uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen), an older and more discreet man who satisfies his desires in secret with rent boys. Freddie manages to get faked papers for Max but he will not leave without Rudy, and tragically, this decision spells doom ultimately for both of them.
The second half of the story focuses on Max at Dachau; he is paired with another Gay prisoner, Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), and together they are made to move heavy stones from one pile to another and back again, and again, and again. Under the incredibly dehumanizing circumstances, these two men somehow manage to fall in love; and the result is one of the most remarkable and painful love stories ever put on film.
Unfortunately, you have to wait nearly an hour to get to the story of Max and Horst, which is the segment of the film that has all the power and impact of Sherman's play. The first half, despite cutting out huge chunks of dialogue, seems interminable and lacks energy; one feels that had they kept the play's first half intact it would have taken about half an hour less to get to Dachau, which is where the beating heart of the story is located.
The acting is wonderful, though. Clive Owen, brought in to fill Richard Gere's shoes (Gere had played the role on Broadway but was doing another film at the time), displays a haunting vulnerability as the terrified Max, and Lothaire Bluteau's Horst is in many ways the central figure of the piece, as he stands for what happens when love and hate collide. Bluteau bares his soul in probably the best performance in the picture, though he is in very good company.
I give this one a 6 because what it does well, it does exceptionally well. It's a pity that the first half is so dull; the original was anything but.
Director Sean Mathias's film version of Martin Sherman's landmark play BENT is a harrowing look at the fate of the Gay community under Nazism told through the eyes of Max (Clive Owen), a promiscuous habitué of the boy bars who is arrested along with his boyfriend Rudy (Brian Webber) the morning after bringing home a member of the SA (Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau). On the way to Dachau Max is forced to beat Rudy to death by the brutal SS guards to prove his claim that he is not homosexual; Max has decided that a yellow star (Jewish) would be less dangerous a marker than a pink triangle.
In the early scenes of the film we are given a look at the Berlin club scene; Mick Jagger has a stunning cameo as Greta, a performer at the club who knows what's coming and makes an abortive attempt to warn Max, but Max won't listen; neither will he listen to his uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen), an older and more discreet man who satisfies his desires in secret with rent boys. Freddie manages to get faked papers for Max but he will not leave without Rudy, and tragically, this decision spells doom ultimately for both of them.
The second half of the story focuses on Max at Dachau; he is paired with another Gay prisoner, Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), and together they are made to move heavy stones from one pile to another and back again, and again, and again. Under the incredibly dehumanizing circumstances, these two men somehow manage to fall in love; and the result is one of the most remarkable and painful love stories ever put on film.
Unfortunately, you have to wait nearly an hour to get to the story of Max and Horst, which is the segment of the film that has all the power and impact of Sherman's play. The first half, despite cutting out huge chunks of dialogue, seems interminable and lacks energy; one feels that had they kept the play's first half intact it would have taken about half an hour less to get to Dachau, which is where the beating heart of the story is located.
The acting is wonderful, though. Clive Owen, brought in to fill Richard Gere's shoes (Gere had played the role on Broadway but was doing another film at the time), displays a haunting vulnerability as the terrified Max, and Lothaire Bluteau's Horst is in many ways the central figure of the piece, as he stands for what happens when love and hate collide. Bluteau bares his soul in probably the best performance in the picture, though he is in very good company.
I give this one a 6 because what it does well, it does exceptionally well. It's a pity that the first half is so dull; the original was anything but.
Too pretentious and stagey
jimbo-9321 May 1999
First, I admire the audacity of the filmmakers here. But, alas, this is a very bad film. People tend to tread lightly over and treat with "kid gloves" any movie involving the Holocaust or serious homosexual themes. Criticizing such films is tantamount to anti-Semiticism or homophobia. These filmmakers were probably trying to multiply such sympathies by using both themes. Its theatre source is apparent. It's pretentious and tries too hard to push our buttons. Bad outing.
Excellent drama
Boyo-212 November 1999
I had seen the play on Broadway twice, once with Richard Gere and David Dukes, and once with Michael York and Jeffrey DeMunn. The movie is very faithful to the play and was just as interesting, which usually is not the case. Mick Jagger is great as Greta. All in all, I'd recommend this movie and did not find it pretentious in the least.
Great performances, uneven story
BeneCumb26 February 2014
Gay lust/love and decadence in Berlin, Jews-Nazis-concentration camps - all intriguing elements, a good basis for developing a tense narration where different aspects of human nature move to the surface. The story can be roughly divided into 2 parts, different by mood - before arrest and after it. Although the 1st one has menacing circumference as well, events in the secretive club (including nice performance by Mick Jagger) are in total contrast with miseries in Dachau where gays and Jews were the lowest strata, suffering most hardships. The 2nd part includes the strongest scenes of the film where the 2 protagonists (splendidly performed by Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau) have to stand attention... The ending was, unfortunately, predictable, and not all scenes have equal significance for the progression of the script. Nevertheless, unless you are uncomfortable with "different" approaches on "known" events, then Bent is definitely for you; plus I think that Clive Owen should be used more in profound drama films - he did a great job here.
Pretentious Rubbish
Theo Robertson18 June 2002
If like me you live in Britain and stay up late you often find obscure films being shown on Channel 4 . One night I stayed up and by chance watched BENT. After I watched I realised I should try going to bed early
BENT starts off bizarrely with transvestites parading around one of which is Sir Mick Jagger so I was expecting a sort of camp version of CABARET , but explicit scenes of gay sex followed and after that the film descended into a very pretentious and obvioulsy stage based drama where Clive Owen looks grim faced and keeps repeating " This can`t be happening " over and over again . And despite what other reviewers have said about this film I found myself feeling nothing except terminal boredom .
In short this is the type of film that ruins the British film industry but which Britain continues to make despite a very limited market . And no I`m not being homophobic . If the characters had been , Jews , Slavs , trade unionists , communists or any other type of victim of Nazism I would still have hated this film
BENT starts off bizarrely with transvestites parading around one of which is Sir Mick Jagger so I was expecting a sort of camp version of CABARET , but explicit scenes of gay sex followed and after that the film descended into a very pretentious and obvioulsy stage based drama where Clive Owen looks grim faced and keeps repeating " This can`t be happening " over and over again . And despite what other reviewers have said about this film I found myself feeling nothing except terminal boredom .
In short this is the type of film that ruins the British film industry but which Britain continues to make despite a very limited market . And no I`m not being homophobic . If the characters had been , Jews , Slavs , trade unionists , communists or any other type of victim of Nazism I would still have hated this film
Very difficult to watch...
ironheart-128 April 2004
Only half way through this film did I remember having seen a small theatre production of the play in Los Angeles a dozen years ago. I only remembered when the rock-moving scenes began. I don't recall being particularly moved by the play -- it may have been a condensed 1-act version or something. I only remember thinking it was too "talky." But, the film was very powerful and moving and enraged me! I'm also older and more aware of prejudice on every level. Every gay person...or minority of any kind (race, religion, etc.) should see this film just to remind them (us) of just HOW BAD it can get and how "humans" can become such sick animals as the Nazis were in this film. I kept thinking: "Hey, how can they keep blaming Hitler, when he was not there ordering the guards to torture and ENJOY hurting people like that?" Powerful film!
Life's Not A Cabaret Old Chum
bkoganbing11 May 2009
No person who is knowledgeable about the Holocaust can ever claim that without seeing Bent. The play which opened in 1979 in London is about those all too forgotten victims of the Holocaust, the gay people of Europe. On Broadway the lead role that Clive Owen plays was essayed by Richard Gere for the run of 241 performances in the 1979-1980 season. Doing his original role from the London production as Uncle Freddie is Sir Ian McKellan.
For those who think that homosexuality doesn't have an inherited element in it, Bent certainly gives lie to that. During the Weimar Republic years Germany had a thriving gay if somewhat discreet scene. After the Night of the Long Knives with the SA purge in 1934, gays were systematically rounded up for a final solution and Hitler certainly did a thorough job of it. Today the German Federal Republic has once again a thriving gay scene. Those recessive genes are popping out in full force.
Bent does begin right at the Night of the Long Knives where Ernst Roehm was killed and anyone whoever knew of him and his not so discreet gay lifestyle was done in. The long knives of Himmler's SS come calling that night on Clive Owen and his boyfriend Brian Webber because they've picked up a pretty young man who used to trick with Roehm. He dies quite gruesomely, but they escape.
Owen seeks aid from an old gay man who's called Uncle Freddie played by Ian McKellan who gives him some help, but whom Owen doesn't take some good advice from. McKellan has been very much deep in the closet, it's what's made him survive a society where homophobia is not just approved, but is now the law of the land.
After this the scene cuts to a train to Dachau and Dachau itself where Owen and Webber are taken. Webber doesn't survive the trip, that scene is something I don't want to reveal. Owen decides that he'll take the Jewish star of David rather than a pink triangle, in the Dachau pecking order gay is worse than Jewish.
Just as Schindler's List showed the dehumanization of Jews, Bent shows the dehumanization of gay people. Only there was no Oskar Schindler to save some of them. In fact sexuality as a form of repression has not ever been better displayed on screen than in Bent.
But Owen learns about gay pride from another prisoner, Lothaire Bluteau who wears the pink triangle in defiance. They find a connection and consummate that connection in the only way they can do it under the circumstances. Again a scene I can't reveal.
This film should not be missed by any Gay/Lesbian/Bi-Sexual/Trangendered person on this planet. It shows better than anything else what we potentially face in the way of repression when we are dehumanized by law and societal mores. We cannot let that happen and we have to make sure it's stopped in the places it does happen in the world.
And this review is dedicated to all the brothers and sisters who died back then. Here's hope for a better world for our next generation.
For those who think that homosexuality doesn't have an inherited element in it, Bent certainly gives lie to that. During the Weimar Republic years Germany had a thriving gay if somewhat discreet scene. After the Night of the Long Knives with the SA purge in 1934, gays were systematically rounded up for a final solution and Hitler certainly did a thorough job of it. Today the German Federal Republic has once again a thriving gay scene. Those recessive genes are popping out in full force.
Bent does begin right at the Night of the Long Knives where Ernst Roehm was killed and anyone whoever knew of him and his not so discreet gay lifestyle was done in. The long knives of Himmler's SS come calling that night on Clive Owen and his boyfriend Brian Webber because they've picked up a pretty young man who used to trick with Roehm. He dies quite gruesomely, but they escape.
Owen seeks aid from an old gay man who's called Uncle Freddie played by Ian McKellan who gives him some help, but whom Owen doesn't take some good advice from. McKellan has been very much deep in the closet, it's what's made him survive a society where homophobia is not just approved, but is now the law of the land.
After this the scene cuts to a train to Dachau and Dachau itself where Owen and Webber are taken. Webber doesn't survive the trip, that scene is something I don't want to reveal. Owen decides that he'll take the Jewish star of David rather than a pink triangle, in the Dachau pecking order gay is worse than Jewish.
Just as Schindler's List showed the dehumanization of Jews, Bent shows the dehumanization of gay people. Only there was no Oskar Schindler to save some of them. In fact sexuality as a form of repression has not ever been better displayed on screen than in Bent.
But Owen learns about gay pride from another prisoner, Lothaire Bluteau who wears the pink triangle in defiance. They find a connection and consummate that connection in the only way they can do it under the circumstances. Again a scene I can't reveal.
This film should not be missed by any Gay/Lesbian/Bi-Sexual/Trangendered person on this planet. It shows better than anything else what we potentially face in the way of repression when we are dehumanized by law and societal mores. We cannot let that happen and we have to make sure it's stopped in the places it does happen in the world.
And this review is dedicated to all the brothers and sisters who died back then. Here's hope for a better world for our next generation.
I must agree with Jimbo -- "too pretentious and stagey," but
Grand15 August 1999
... that means we can enjoy the fluff all the more! Jude Law: more nude scenes! Rupert Graves: you usually look good in anything (or nothing!), but BLACK is _tres_ _commes_ on you! Mick Jagger: Greta, dahling you were mah-velous singing "Streets of Berlin!" We loved it! Dachau: you should be ashamed of yourself! When a body sees a body a-comin' through the rocks (or DOESN'T see it, as the case may be), you should not admit impediment to the marriage of true minds. Sham
A must see.....a never forget.
xanadu196117 February 2002
This film, based on the theatrical production, is a moving and powerful experience. It is both emotional and intense and its power moves even a cynic to tears. While hope bounds throughout the hopeless scenario, the overwhelming feeling is desperation and despair.
Though the settings are largely historically inaccurate, they convey the mood of the era precisely.
A must see for anyone in the GLBT community or anyone with an interest in the Holocaust.
Never forget.....NEVER AGAIN!
Though the settings are largely historically inaccurate, they convey the mood of the era precisely.
A must see for anyone in the GLBT community or anyone with an interest in the Holocaust.
Never forget.....NEVER AGAIN!
Sadly, this should have been better
justahunch-705491 February 2024
This film about a gay Jew being sent to a concentration camp just doesn't work very well as a film or at least this version doesn't work very well. It is 27 years since this was filmed and it is still the only theatrical feature film directed by Sean Mathias. Perhaps that is the problem, but it should have been better given that the screenwriter also wrote the play. It's a more fleshed out version of the play it's based on and despite my negative comments, it is not a terrible film. It is just a bit weak and reeks of being based upon stage material. It's an odd play that has some scenes that work much better on a stage than they do on film. The material it's based on is obviously sad, horrific and touching though everyone in it seems to be slightly overplaying their roles. There are scenes that are meant to be big moments that just ring a little false due to that and again it might be due to Mathias being primarily a stage director. Most seem a little bit more animated than they should be for a film. The two leads, Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau work hard to bring this to life and others are interesting including Mick Jagger in drag and a very young and gorgeous Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. This needs to be remade, but given the commercial failure of this along with what it's about, it'll be a very long time before that occurs.
Tragic, beautiful, desolate
travellerunraveller27 January 2021
Bent Out of Shape
NoDakTatum9 December 2023
Martin Sherman's play about German homosexuals during World War II makes a shaky transition to the screen. Max (Clive Owen) lives with dancer Rudy (Brian Webber), and has a debaucherous old time at a "club" run by drag queen Greta (Mick Jagger). He lives a selfish life, broke, and does not treat Rudy that well. He brings home a military man as a lover, and the Nazis raid, killing the soldier and driving Rudy and Max into the woods. The couple is captured while trying to make plans to escape to Amsterdam. They are thrown on a boxcar headed for Dachau, and there Max makes a fateful decision to stay alive at all costs, using advice received from Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who is wearing a pink triangle, signifying a homosexual. Max has conned his way into a yellow triangle, signifying himself as Jewish. At the concentration camp, Max is always looking to make a deal, and gets Horst moved to Max's work detail. The two begin arguing as Horst realizes Max's work detail is an exercise in futility used to drive an inmate mad. The two cannot touch each other, get three minute breaks every two hours (when they must stand at attention for all three minutes), and work twelve hours straight moving rocks from one pile to another, and then back again. Horst is angry that Max denies being a homosexual, even though the pink triangles are the lowest form of life in the concentration camp inmate hierarchy. The two men slowly become friends, then lovers, but not in the conventional sense. Because they live apart, and cannot touch, they make love while standing next to each other, using their voices and imaginations.
Martin Sherman wrote a difficult screenplay to watch, crowding his most shocking scenes in the opening third of the film. By the time we are taken to Dachau, and the monotonous rock moving begins, the viewer's monotony sets in. Was this the intent of the film makers? After so much sex and violence, the camp scenes seem almost mild by comparison. Sean Mathias' direction works all the way through. He was hampered with a small budget -filmed on location in England and it certainly looks like it, but his camerawork captures enough of the pain after the brief highs of Max's existence in the beginning of the film. Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau are excellent, as Max tries to reject Horst's eventual professings of love, and sadly forgetting the name of Rudy. Mick Jagger and Ian McKellen have good cameos, and Jude Law can be spotted in a two line early role. Philip Glass' musical score sounds exactly like his others, and I think it was used almost note for note and to better effect in "The Hours." The locations do not convince. My main problem was with Sherman's screenplay. While the actors carry most of the middle and end of the film on their own, I hate to admit I was often bored. "Bent" was also rated NC17, an overreaction to an orgy scene at Greta's. I have seen worse on cable television, and this is just one more ratings mistake the MPAA made. "Bent" is a good film, but it cannot keep up the pain and terror of the first third, with a screenplay that lets the two main actors down. Emotional ending, but all in all a disappointment.
Martin Sherman wrote a difficult screenplay to watch, crowding his most shocking scenes in the opening third of the film. By the time we are taken to Dachau, and the monotonous rock moving begins, the viewer's monotony sets in. Was this the intent of the film makers? After so much sex and violence, the camp scenes seem almost mild by comparison. Sean Mathias' direction works all the way through. He was hampered with a small budget -filmed on location in England and it certainly looks like it, but his camerawork captures enough of the pain after the brief highs of Max's existence in the beginning of the film. Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau are excellent, as Max tries to reject Horst's eventual professings of love, and sadly forgetting the name of Rudy. Mick Jagger and Ian McKellen have good cameos, and Jude Law can be spotted in a two line early role. Philip Glass' musical score sounds exactly like his others, and I think it was used almost note for note and to better effect in "The Hours." The locations do not convince. My main problem was with Sherman's screenplay. While the actors carry most of the middle and end of the film on their own, I hate to admit I was often bored. "Bent" was also rated NC17, an overreaction to an orgy scene at Greta's. I have seen worse on cable television, and this is just one more ratings mistake the MPAA made. "Bent" is a good film, but it cannot keep up the pain and terror of the first third, with a screenplay that lets the two main actors down. Emotional ending, but all in all a disappointment.
Mick Jagger is the only reason to see it
lee_eisenberg21 May 2006
As I understand it, "Bent" was originally a stage production in London. I don't know how the stage production was, but the movie version doesn't come out as good as it could have. Portraying a gay man (Clive Owen) in Nazi Germany pretending to be Jewish and meeting another gay man in Dachau, the movie never really develops anything as much as it could. In fact, it seems like the movie never really looks thoroughly at what the Nazis were doing. Mick Jagger, playing a transvestite, is really the only reason to see the movie.
So, they probably had good intentions with this movie, but they never did with it what they could have. The whole thing comes out pretty muddled. Also starring Ian McKellen.
So, they probably had good intentions with this movie, but they never did with it what they could have. The whole thing comes out pretty muddled. Also starring Ian McKellen.
Very sad and very touching.
cLoNe23 August 1999
The play was great and I hoped the movie adaption will work. I'm glad to say it did.
Some bits weren't perfect, but the movie is still very sad and bitterly romantic. How sad and heartbreaking...
How could people do such things to other people?... Damn. Not an easy movie to watch, but still a must see. Great acting.
Some bits weren't perfect, but the movie is still very sad and bitterly romantic. How sad and heartbreaking...
How could people do such things to other people?... Damn. Not an easy movie to watch, but still a must see. Great acting.
barely watchable
goatyhead21 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I love historical dramas. This subject matter is very rarely talked about. Jews, poles, gypsies and other undesirables were all brutally exterminated. Homosexuals are very rarely talked about. So this subject matter seemed very interesting. From the start the movie seemed like it was going to be a musical, and i almost turned it off. Then it seemed to try to be a rip off of "party Monsters" but set in pre ww II Germany. The action seemed to get better and the story line started to develop. However the acting and the plot just falls apart, into something predictable and bland. The whole movie seems like someone who wrote a high school play was suddenly given a big movie budget but decided to keep it in a play format.
Must See!!!
Brandy-2828 May 1999
What can I possibly say about this movie that would not bring me to tears. This movie was very powerful and thought provoking. I just could not understand the hatred for human beings, just because of what religion, sexual orientation, or whether they had a big nose. I just can't for the life of me figured that out. I guess I will never figure it out.
There were some very strong scenes in this movie that tugged at my heart. The ridiculous killing of men and women for no apparent reason other than what I said above. The never ending work the prisoners did was just unspeakable. The conditions, and also the ever popular "no touching each other". The latter is the most difficult to endure for two gay men captured and put to work in the concentration camps. In one powerful scene, that I have to admit I watched over and over about five times, during one of Max and Horst's (main stars) rock moving extravaganza's, they are allowed a three minute rest period while working a twelve hour shift. They are not allowed to look at each other, they must stand up straight looking ahead (some rest period huh). Well without giving away the scene. They have what we would call very graphic and arousing phone sex. And I have to tell you, I was right there with them. This scene really brought these two prisoners much closer together and very much in love. It was beautiful.
I have a couple of things that bothered me in this movie. I really hated the way the SS men spoke to the prisoners. I mean, one word sentences like "You" - "Walk" - "Friend?" - or "Watching You". I mean for a people who claimed to be the superior race, these guys were not intelligent at all. Also the fake train outtakes that were obviously superimposed into the movie. The scenes themselves were in black and white which told the audience that they were not from the original film, but from some other movie.
Overall, this movie was profoundly incredible. It is a must see for everyone, no matter what the content of the movie - gays, murder, sex, SS men, Hitler's BS , concentration camps. You have to watch this movie with an open heart and mind to actually feel for these people, not just because they were two gay men in love and pain, because they were human beings first and foremost. 7.5 out **********. See it, you will not be disappointed.
There were some very strong scenes in this movie that tugged at my heart. The ridiculous killing of men and women for no apparent reason other than what I said above. The never ending work the prisoners did was just unspeakable. The conditions, and also the ever popular "no touching each other". The latter is the most difficult to endure for two gay men captured and put to work in the concentration camps. In one powerful scene, that I have to admit I watched over and over about five times, during one of Max and Horst's (main stars) rock moving extravaganza's, they are allowed a three minute rest period while working a twelve hour shift. They are not allowed to look at each other, they must stand up straight looking ahead (some rest period huh). Well without giving away the scene. They have what we would call very graphic and arousing phone sex. And I have to tell you, I was right there with them. This scene really brought these two prisoners much closer together and very much in love. It was beautiful.
I have a couple of things that bothered me in this movie. I really hated the way the SS men spoke to the prisoners. I mean, one word sentences like "You" - "Walk" - "Friend?" - or "Watching You". I mean for a people who claimed to be the superior race, these guys were not intelligent at all. Also the fake train outtakes that were obviously superimposed into the movie. The scenes themselves were in black and white which told the audience that they were not from the original film, but from some other movie.
Overall, this movie was profoundly incredible. It is a must see for everyone, no matter what the content of the movie - gays, murder, sex, SS men, Hitler's BS , concentration camps. You have to watch this movie with an open heart and mind to actually feel for these people, not just because they were two gay men in love and pain, because they were human beings first and foremost. 7.5 out **********. See it, you will not be disappointed.
If you didn't like it, you shouldn't be watching movies like this
trekker-624 October 1999
This movie was not a high budget movie, and you can tell. But what makes a movie? Not its high budget. The story and the characters make a movie, and this one had it. How brave of a group to go into this very untouched piece of history and show it so elegantly. While some of the scenes may have seemed a bit cheesy, or stagey as someone said earlier, you need to understand the position these people where in. While making love without touching may seem odd, or weird, that is all they had. That was all the human contact they had. If you can't see that you shouldn't be watching movies like this one.
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