Paragraph 175

2000
7.7| 1h14m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 22 January 2000 Released
Producted By: Film4 Productions
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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During the Nazi regime, there was widespread persecution of homosexual men, which started in 1871 with the Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code. Thousands were murdered in concentration camps. This powerful and disturbing documentary, narrated by Rupert Everett, presents for the first time the largely untold testimonies of some of those who survived.

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Director

Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

Production Companies

Film4 Productions

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Paragraph 175 Audience Reviews

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.
Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Grant Malkin This one made me cry, you can see the pain in their eyes when they are telling you of what happened to them.I would HIGHLY recommend this to ANYONE to watch. If nothing else but to understand..5 out of about 100,000 survived and I am sure (unfortunately) that there are less today, this gives us an insight as to the hell these men faced for being themselves.Historian Klaus Müller has opened my eyes as to what was done during WW2, given us a piece of history not to forget.10 out of 10 from me!!
kmfazil Probably history was after all, meant to be a study of human consciousness in guilt. Of course, there is always a need to realize something valuable out of the past, that a study about the past is after all a human being's reverse-troubleshooting guide. Probably that's the reason why there are beautiful pictures of stoic, stiff-lipped people in our high school history text-books. We like to think of ourselves as the descendants of glorious generations, men and women valiant in their own right, contributing their bit to the proud bloodlines we carry today. We read on these people, associate ourselves with the affairs of their lives, judge them for their actions, name calendar days after them, hate them, worship them, write books on them, film biopics on their lives, name our babies after them… The reason we can't forget these people could be because they've either given to or taken from this world in proportions far greater than what you or me have.Between the years 1933 and 1945 one man changed our world because he believed in something that seemed stupid at first. As time rolled into horror-fest mode, it turned into mankind's worst ever mistake. Something that psychologically stopped time and spun it backwards. We remember that man either because he took away from this world a chunk of our moral fiber, the scars forever etched in our minds, or probably because he gave this world freedom from the ideologies of mankind's vilest prodigy when he hanged himself.Today, history attests the importance of this period of madness with facts and figures that might seem absurdly horrible for our generation. We've all probably read enough to forget about a past like this. Biopics and documentaries have already dry-choked our tear glands at the horrifying experiences recounted by Jewish survivors. Pictures of gas chambers and mass-graves have already made us numb. And just when we thought that we knew too much to burden our consciences, comes a movie about this small group of men who disappeared off the face of the earth because of something that disturbs, intrigues and thwarts us till this day: Love, and all the stigma it carries. And for something so simple and subtle as love to take place between two people, there lies an even more absurd reasoning as to why the two people shouldn't be of the same sex. That's the Nazi regime's code of stigma, also known as Paragraph 175. And no, your fat, dog-eared history text book does not consider the lives of one hundred thousand men who lived during that time, loving others… worth mentioning. These men died unnoticed and in secret captivity, so secret that even those labor camps within which they died are today not preserved for posterity. Few of those numerous men survived. Fewer live today. And fewer still are willing to come out of their dark closets of tears and share their experiences, unscripted and undistorted to a camera crew determined to make known to us such a vital, forgotten part of man's history.It's pretty obvious what the contents of Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code contained, judging by the number of innocent lives it consumed, it would be more appropriate if you'd watch the movie and learn rather than have me explain it to you in a website review. What's most unsettling is interestingly, not Paragraph 175 itself, considering the circumstances under which it took form. Rather, it's the fact that a law that was so fatal took a hundred and twenty three years from the time it was adopted in 1871, to be finally revoked in 1994. Even after the fall of Hitler in 1945, it still took close to fifty whole years and six amendments to finally strike it down.Nazis killed plenty of men, women and children. You certainly wouldn't expect the most powerful and conservative army in the world to go soft against gay men and women and suddenly endorse mutual love. Not at a time when your first-duty towards the people you love was replaced by the pride of the country. So in short, Nazis did what Nazis do best: kill. But, even after we thought the horrible era of an insane ideology was over and done with, heads of government still remained conservative and chose to ignore the ills of their pasts, dragging their feet through the marshes of sludge-bureaucracy.Rob Epstein conveys all of these truths with anger and emotion, throughout while interviewing these survivors. Some, among them is a half-Jewish gay resistance fighter who posed as a Hitler Youth member to rescue his lover from a Gestapo transfer camp in an ultimately futile effort; Annette Eick, the Jewish lesbian who escaped to England with the help of a woman she loved; the German Christian photographer who was arrested and imprisoned for homosexuality, then joined the army on his release because he "wanted to be with men" and Pierre Seel, the French Alsatian teenager, who watched as his lover was eaten alive by dogs in the camps.The statistics are staggering: Between 1933 and 1945, some 100,000 men were arrested for homosexuality, roughly half of them were sentenced to prison, and from 10,000 to 15,000 were sent to concentration camps. The camps were used for re-education, slave labor, castration and sadistic medical experiments. It's believed only about 4,000 survived their ordeal. It is interesting to note that the penal code didn't cover lesbians. The Nazis considered lesbians to be "curable." Women were regarded, as vessels of motherhood – increasing the German population was top priority – therefore, they were exempt from mass arrest. Most lesbians went into exile or quietly married gay men.There are only about 10 homosexuals left from this tragedy, and they interviewed eight for this special film. It was incredible and moving and, if you are not touched by their stories, then you are cast in stone.
jasonghays This film is fantastic. What a powerful 80 minutes of film. It was so informative and emotional without shoving anything down your throat. The way the delicate and sensitive subject matters were handled was graceful and respectful. Kudos.It made me feel angry, sad, and compassion for the people that are struggling to voice their stories without making a fiasco out of what happened to them.Like so many other documentaries, this one did not try and play with my emotion with overly sappy music or editing. It was simple and precise. The music was haunting and had the perfect mood for the piece. The interviews were not overly edited for dramatic effect, but were simple and honest.I watched it twice. Cried both times. And I feel more educated and compassionate for renting this great film.
didi777 I have seen the movie yesterday and was quite moved by it. I did not expect much (because usually I am not the documentary type), but the mixture of old film footage and photos (with some 20s and 30s music) and interviews of a few of the survivors (7 homosexualls, 1 lesbian) was very interesting. The big thing about this movie is to get to know about what happened in that time, because no one spoke about this when we were talking about the second world war in history class. it is unbelievable that the paragraph 175 existed even till 1969. this is a must-see film !