I went to a book and media sale for a local volunteer organization; wow what deals!
Hard cover books were 15 for 10 (I bought 60) and DVDs were $2 each (40 of these). I know...I know...I'm supposed to be downsizing but at these prices who could resist
I thought I'd start my own thread instead of starting a new one for each DVD I comment on soooo...
300
This was reviewed before so I won't get into it too much. Let me just say...gorgeous half-naked men...of course I liked it!
Paragraph 175
Overview:
The Nazi persecution of homosexuals may be the last untold story of the Third Reich. Directed by Oscar winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt and The Times of Harvey Milk), Paragraph 175 fills a crucial gap in the historical record, and reveals the lasting consequences of this hidden chapter of 20th century history.
This epic story is told through personal accounts of men and women who lived through it: the Jewish gay resistance fighters who posed as a Hitler Youth member to rescue his lover from a Gestapo transfer camp; the Jewish lesbian who escaped to England with the help of an older woman she had a crush on; the photographer and loyal German citizen who was arrested and imprisoned for homosexuality, then joined the army on his release because "he wanted to by with men."
These are stories of survivors- sometimes bitter, but just as often filled with irony and humor; tortured by their memories, yet infused with a powerful will to endure. Their moving testimonies, rendered with evocative images of their lives and times, tell a haunting, compelling story of human resilience. Intimate in its portrayals, sweeping in its implications, Paragraph 175 raises provocative questions about memory, history and identity.
My thoughts:
Like Eric, I enjoy history and documentaries. I thought I had seen just about all the documentaries about WW II but this is one that I did not see. Of course I knew about the persecution of homosexuals during the war and this film but to hear from those that actually lived through it is something else.
What struck me the most was that out of the tens of thousands (100,000+ I believe) of the homosexuals this film depicts, the directors could only find 10 people left that could contribute their memories for this film.
I never knew that Berlin had such an open and dynamic homosexual identity in the early 1900s. The photographs from those times were particularly interesting and quite poignant.
I enjoyed this DVD, I haven't listened to the commentary track yet, and think it might be something that others would want to see.
