drama
«Great freedom» fate of a persecuted homosexual
Hans (Franz Rogowski) has to go to prison because he is homosexual. Photo: – / Freibeuterfilm / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
“Große Freiheit” has already received an award in Cannes, and the drama is an Austrian candidate for an Oscar abroad. Franz Rogowski has now also been nominated for the European Film Prize for his leading role.
A strong drama about the suppression of homosexuals in Germany comes to German cinemas with Franz Rogowski. The 35-year-old Rogowski has been nominated for the European Film Prize for his leading role.
In “Große Freiheit” he plays Hans, who was initially condemned by the National Socialists and regularly over the following decades for his homosexuality. In prison he meets Viktor (Georg Friedrich), who initially despises him. But then the men get closer and a close bond develops. The director Sebastian Meise shows how Hans is treated inhumanely, longs for love and closeness – and is denied all of this just because he likes men.
“Gay love was legally forbidden in Germany until the mid-1990s,” Rogowski (“Undine”, “Happy End”) told the German press agency at the premiere of the film at the Cannes Film Festival in the summer. “Große Freiheit” ran there in the renowned side series Un Certain Regard and was awarded the jury prize. The drama has already received further awards at film festivals and is the Austrian candidate for the best international film at the Academy Awards in 2022. The choice is just a preliminary step in the race for the Oscar abroad. The shortlist of 15 international applicants will be announced in December. The five nominated films will be chosen from this shortlist.
Rogowski said about the film: “The generation of our parents were still afraid of gays because Germany taught them that being gay is a crime.” In the meantime we are “already completely enlightened”, “but the story works in us”, said the actor, who was born in Freiburg. “Germany cultivated Paragraph 175 for 120 years. That is why we are still concerned with the topic today. ” Section 175 of the German Criminal Code made sex between men a criminal offense from 1872 onwards. It was repealed in 1994.
– Große Freiheit, Austria / Germany 2020, 116 minutes, by Sebastian Meise, with Franz Rogowski, Georg Friedrich.