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Bent juggles heavy topics with style, though its heavy-handedness at times feels more like exploitation than exploration.
All Critics (22) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (16) | Rotten (6) | DVD (2)
The screen version of Sherman's play about homosexuals in Nazi Germany shows that tyro director Mathias doesn't know much about film for his erratic approach and inconsistent style bring out the play's weaknesses, though the acting is good. Apr 18, 2006 | Rating: C+
The screen version of Sherman's play about homosexuals in Nazi Germany shows that tyro director Mathias doesn't know much about film for his erratic approach and inconsistent style bring out the play's weaknesses, though the acting is good.
Emanuel Levy
Among notable players, Ian McKellen from the original play 19 years ago and Mick Jagger, who plays Berlin's reigning drag queen. Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
Among notable players, Ian McKellen from the original play 19 years ago and Mick Jagger, who plays Berlin's reigning drag queen.
Mike Clark
It's easy to see why playwright Martin Sherman's 1979 Bent was such a groundbreaking theatrical achievement and almost as easy to understand why the 1997 film adaptation failed to gain the same traction. Jan 21, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
It's easy to see why playwright Martin Sherman's 1979 Bent was such a groundbreaking theatrical achievement and almost as easy to understand why the 1997 film adaptation failed to gain the same traction.
Matt Brunson
brave, brilliantly effective movie which has the added bonus of a crinkled Mick Jagger singing in drag while swinging from a ceiling. Aug 19, 2003 | Full Review…
brave, brilliantly effective movie which has the added bonus of a crinkled Mick Jagger singing in drag while swinging from a ceiling.
Brandon Judell
Tired of gay rights movies and Holocaust flicks? This is both, but it still enthralls. Feb 3, 2003 | Rating: 4/5
Tired of gay rights movies and Holocaust flicks? This is both, but it still enthralls.
Luke Y. Thompson
Stylized yet substantive drama about the plight of homosexuals in the Holocaust. Aug 30, 2002 | Full Review…
Stylized yet substantive drama about the plight of homosexuals in the Holocaust.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Remains more a theatrical work than a cinematic one--but its dramatic story, powerful theme and historical importance are undeniable. Jan 1, 2000 | Full Review…
Remains more a theatrical work than a cinematic one--but its dramatic story, powerful theme and historical importance are undeniable.
Bob Satuloff
Strange story but powerful none the less. Ian McKellen is perfect for the role. Clive Owen gives a surprisingly strong performance, but I'm not sure he's necessarily who I would have envisioned for the role. Cinamatography is not the strongest.
Super Reviewer
Certainly well-intentioned, and definitely with some moving moments, but unfortunately this film (based on the stage play) is extremely stagey and rather tedious. Some really great acting, and a decent attempt to show the gays were among those gravely damaged by the Nazis makes it memorable, however.
I am sorry to be so negative about a concentration camp movie featuring gays. I really do not know what could have made the story seem relevant. It seemed to just be a movie that says lets do something about the Holocaust and add gays to it and we are sure to get an Oscar. Just too over done, over acted and overrated.
Hot Gay Sex List Commentary:This is a rarity for this list, as there is only a smudgeon of explicit sex in it (at the very beginning), but it simultaneously contains the most erotic scene ever filmed in which two Holocaust prisoners talk each other through a sexual encounter, whilst standing ten feet apart, not looking at each other, and whispering under the ever watchful eye of Nazi guards. On top of that, I think it's the best Holocaust film; I prefer it to Schindler's List."So Fucked Up" highlight: the really cute twinky boy is brutally beaten by Nazis on the train to death camp whilst his boyfriend watches, forced to deny knowing him in order to survive
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