Good concept, poorly executed.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Why would anyone want to watch these types of movies that showcase the horrors of the Holocaust??? These types of horrific historic events should be shown in documentaries where the viewer wants to learn about historical events, as shocking as some were. I don't want to see sad dramas based on historical events because they certainly are not a source of entertainment for me. Also, this movie was made 20 years ago when showing two leading, masculine men in a gay LTR, living a "normal" life with a happy ending was not yet accepted. Gay marriage is the law of the land now and it's time we moved on. Let's catch up with the straight movies which have always shown straight LTRs in a positive light with happy endings!!! The movie was a total bummer. It was well done, well acted, but a total bummer. Only watch it if you want to be depressed!!!

This is set in Germany right around the time the Nazis started herding Jews and gays into concentration camps. A gay couple (one played by Clive Owen) try to escape but are captured. One dies but Owen lives. He also swears to do anything to survive in the camps--even keeping it secret that he's gay. Then he meets another gay prisoner Horst (Lothaire Bluteau) and falls in love. Horst tries to make him come out. Will he?A perfectly good idea for a drama (and based on a play) is totally botched. It's quite frankly deadly dull. Owen (a good actor) gives a rare bad performance. He's good every once in a while but mostly he's really off. Bluteau is great but he can't carry the whole movie. They keep going on and on and ON about coming out and being yourself till you want to scream. The same points are repeated to a ridiculous degree. It's pretty well-directed but was made on a very low budget which shows. There are some interesting people in small roles--Mick Jagger (as a drag queen), Ian McKellan, Jude Law, Rupert Graves, Charlie Watts and an unknown Paul Bettany. Still they're not enough to make this worth watching. A rightfully forgotten gay drama.

I watched this in two stages: first half, late at night; second half the following evening. I love historical stories set in Europe during WWII. I was intrigued by the first part, even though it was quite disturbing, however, the second part between the two principles, the real heart of the story, just left me completely cold. I cared nothing for either of them. I don't even know what to say about Max, but if I did, there wouldn't be much good in it. Horst was just downright annoying and nag. I found their verbal sexual interaction boring and pretentious; I was sorry it was repeated later in the film. The action was so staid in this ridiculous situation they were in, that I was relieved when one of them was killed. Maybe you're supposed to feel that way. I don't doubt that such situations really happened, senseless as the Nazis were, but I just don't think it made for interesting story telling. Honestly, the only character I felt anything for was Rudy; I was sorry he died so early on. Just my opinion.

This is about the 'Pink Triangle' aspect of the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi's in the pre-WW2 Germany. Homosexual men were rounded up and placed into concentration camps and made to wear the Pink Triangles. The movie's main protagonist Max lived the good life in Berlin (i.e. having as much sex and cocaine with as many sexy men as he could find despite being in a relationship with another man, much to his boyfriend's heartbreak) before the 'Night of the Long Knives' in which the Nazis rounded up as many of the openly gay men as possible. In the transition to the camp Max is forced by the guards to rape a dead 13 year old girl and to murder his lover in order to prove that he is not 'bent'. Max begins to deny who he really is, denying his sexuality and refusing to wear the pink triangle. He makes deals with the guards (by 'going down' on them) and in order to wear the yellow star instead (odd). While in the camp he meets and bonds with a fellow inmate called Horst. They gradually bond and "make love" to each other without actually physically touching each other (you have to watch it to believe it). As a result of this, Horst says that "We were real. We made love. We were human. They are not going to kill us". Horst challenges Max's denial of who he really is and Max admits that he loves despite not being allowed to love. The movie ends in tragedy but before that Horst has made Max proud of what and who he is and he starts to wear his pink triangle with pride. It is a story about love, intolerance and homophobia. The central message of the movie is voiced by Horst when he says about homophobia: "It is silly. The Harlequin Nazis, queer saints, queer geniuses and queer nobodies…we just people. That is why I am wearing this pink triangle and that is why you should be wearing it". The message being that we are all people that are of equal worth. This is Clive Owen's best work to date and despite him joining the Hollywood A-List since, with hits such as 'Closer' (also a good movie) and 'Inside Man' (an entertaining movie); this will always be my favourite Clive Owen movie.