Cheap Bent (DVD) (Clive Owen, Lothaire Bluteau) (Sean Mathias) Price

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Customer Reviews of Bent

Wonderful, stark, well-acted movie
Clive Owen and Lothaire Bluteau bring talent and personality to these two victims of the holocaust. In stark contrast, the beginning of the film shows "gay" Berlin (with a ghastly performance by Mick Jagger) in it's glory. Owen's character is full of lusts and life, oblivious to the woes that are so near his door. Until his fling with a soldier brings his and his lovers capture. Once the Nazis have him, Owen doesn't want the stigma of being a homosexual at the concentration camp so he admits to being a Jew. His friendship with Bluteau emerges while in the camp, soon growing to love, but nothing can change their tragic fate. A great film about the forgotten victims of the holocaust - the homosexuals.

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Streets of Berlin
This movie has to be one of the best I have ever seen! Usually you'll see Holocaust persecution of the Jews, but you get to see a rare glimpse of the homosexual hatred inflicted by the Nazis in this film. We are introduced to Max, a handsome man who is enjoying the colorful nightlife of Berlin when a sexual encounter with a soldier puts his life in danger. Caught by the Nazis, he meets Horst on a train heading for one of the concentration camps, a fellow homosexual who shows him how to survive and later how to love. If you're looking for fast paced action and dazzling special effects, go rent some cheesy action flick. Yet if you want to see heart-wrenching drama then this is your movie to see. Mick Jagger also entertains with a colorful performance of "Streets of Berlin."

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For dedicated homophiles with strong stomachs only
This is the story of the concentration camp inmates forced to wear the pink triangle, symbol of their homosexuality.

This film was formerly a successful play and perhaps it succeeded because of its shocking topic, but this director is no Steven Spielberg. Never did I feel one bit of realism or sympathy for the characters although the brutality was unceasing and the story intense. For example, a boxcar scene which might have worked in a play was just too stagy, and the camera lingered much too lovingly over attractive semi-nude male bodies. We've found out by then, of course, that the title, Bent, refers to the shape of the lead character's male organ although there were no camera shots of this. The dialog seemed contrived, the prisoners all looked too healthy and fit, and, while this film might be applauded for handling, at last, a forbidden topic, it just didn't work as a film. Even Mick Jagger, miscast in the role of a drag queen who runs a nightclub in Berlin, just couldn't save it.