Wednesday, February 15, 2012
FRENCH HOLOCAUSTUPDATED
Today's gay film was the French
Un amour à taire / A Love to Hide (2005)
Paris during the occupation, two lovers hide a Jewish friend who has a romantic past with one of them.
Homosexuality has just been made illegal so the two men must now be discreet. One of the men is also with the resistance.
Bad goes to worse and the horrors of the treatment of homosexuals begins to roll as one of the men is picked up for having been seen in a queer club.
Torture during questioning, a reeducation camp for gays and, when he resists, Dachau.
The sunny days are over.
This film is one of those which should be mandatory for gay men to illuminate their past. It won't be. It hardly made distribution in France and America. But it is a powerful, well told story.
I would not want to see it again. But I am glad I saw it now. The acting is great. Production values superb. The film delivers many strong gut punches. Not for the faint of heart no matter how good it would do the viewer to sit with this history for an hour and a half.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
The French government did not repeal the anti-gay laws set in place by the Vichy government until the early 80s and never acknowledged the deportation of 10,000 homosexuals until around the same time.
