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Große Freiheit

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Great Freedom

Franz Rogowski

Georg Friedrich

Anton von Lucke

Thomas Prenn

Thomas Stecher

Alfred Hartung

Thomas Wehling

Mex Schlüpfer

David Burnell IV

Fabian Stumm

Joachim Schönfeld

Klaus Huhle

Andreas Patton

Daniel Wagner

Ulrich Faßnacht

Johannes Cramer

Dan Lestrade

Ernst Sigot

Sebastian Meise

Vasilis Marmatakis

Benny Drechsel

Sabine Moser

Manuel Meichsner

Oliver Neumann

Michael Randel

Atanas Tcholakov

Crystel Fournier

Peter Brötzmann

Nils Petter Molvær

Thomas Reider

Joana Scrinzi

Tanja Hausner

Andrea Hölzl

Heiko Schmidt

Kerstin Gaecklein

Roman Braunhofer

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It's curious to think that it is only fairly recently (1994!) that West Germany abolished it's odious "paragraph 175" legislation that imposed criminal penalties on homosexual men. Franz Rogowski is "Hoffman", a serial cottager who is frequently imprisoned for breaching this law. The film tells the rather bleak and depressing tale of his life spent behind bars: of his loves whilst there - notably with "Oskar" (Thomas Prenn) and "Leo" (Anton von Lucke); of his developing friendship with the straight and initially hostile "Viktor" (Georg Friedrich) and of the brutality of the prison system that reduced his quality of life to little more than that of street vermin. Rogowski (who reminds me a little of Joaquin Phoenix) is on good form as the story pans out; his character runs an whole gamut of emotions from love, despair, frustration and - very occasionally - joy, he even thinks of breaking out! By the time he is declared "legal", the character has become so institutionalised that freedom is nowhere near as attractive as he had expected it to be. It's not an easy film to watch, this one - made more potent by the fact the for much of the period he spent incarcerated, there were American soldiers guarding the jail too! The pace is slow, and the narrative switches timelines from time to time, so I needed to concentrate, but it is worth it if you are remotely interested in the ordeals of a man jailed just for being gay!

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Great Freedom

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Cast

Franz Rogowski

Georg Friedrich

Anton von Lucke

Thomas Prenn

Thomas Stecher

Alfred Hartung

Thomas Wehling

Mex Schlüpfer

David Burnell IV

Fabian Stumm

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