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Austria, Germany · 2021
1h 56m
Director Sebastian Meise
Starring Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich, Anton von Lucke, Thomas Prenn
Genre Drama, Romance, War
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At the end of World War 2, as a result of anti-homosexuality laws, Hans Hoffman, a gay Jewish man, is sentenced to an Austrian prison after being released from a concentration camp. There, he develops a working friendship with a bigoted addict and a secret romance with another inmate.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
Chronicling an ignominious chapter in queer history, Great Freedom is also a contemplative psychological study of the effects of incarceration, and beyond that, an unconventional love story, tender but unsentimental.
The Playlist by Gregory Ellwood
Despite a very frank and welcome illustration of gay sexuality rarely seen in modern media (in this manner at least), Greater Freedom continually teases us with storylines and subject matter by choosing to frame this era through a relationship that it cannot rationalize.
Meise’s film is an exquisite marriage of personal, political and sensual storytelling, its narrative and temporal drift tightened by another performance of quietly piercing vulnerability from Franz Rogowski.
While it smoulders with indignation for the injustice that was perpetrated for so many years, Great Freedom is also a love story, a remarkable character study, and an absorbing meditation on what long-term imprisonment for a crime that is not a crime does to the soul.
The Film Stage by Zhuo-Ning Su
Great Freedom asks a lot of its viewer and offers no rousing Hollywood ending. It’s not a film you see on a whim, but lovers of truthful, humanistic cinema should take note. This one is the real deal, surely to be given a chance. Or two.
15 years of imprisonment, 5 days of vengeance...
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The humanity of the story and characters is striking, thanks to the phenomenal actors and interesting narrative structure. I'm surprised by how much the movie has stuck with me since first watching it—the questions it raises about internal and external freedom are fascinating.