Great Freedom

A very fine film spanning several timelines that follows the life of a gay man 'Hans' in post war Germany. The harsh reality that homosexuality was an offence punishable by jail time is really brought home by the director Sebastian Meise who also co wrote this incredibly effective screenplay.

What stands out though are the two central performances by Franz Rogowski (Hans) and Georg Friedrich (Viktor). Even the make up to make them look aged at certain points is tremendous and really aids their acting. The film isn't an easy one to watch as most of it is set in a German jail, therefore it comes with your expected amount of violence and brutality. But the beautiful moments rise so high that this film will live long in the memory. There is one particular scene in the prison courtyard involving Hans and Viktor that is just flawless and surely one of the scenes of the year.

It's a film that explores whether freedom for some is being institutionalized and not on the outside, and while that is a well trodden path in cinema, it's rarely been portrayed as beautiful as this.

I still get just as angry as ever reading about the dark history of criminalizing homosexuality. Große Freiheit opens with a jarring, unflinching courtroom scene: the prosecutor presents surveillance footage from a “gay toilet” as evidence and reads the charges—guilty under Paragraph 175 for “deviant sexual behavior.”

This is the brutal introduction to Hans Hoffmann’s story. He is sentenced under §175 StGB (Strafgesetzbuch), the German law that criminalized male homosexuality. The film doesn't sugarcoat it:

„Verurteilung wegen Unzucht mit Männern gemäß §175 StGB.“

But Hoffmann’s story doesn’t begin in postwar West Germany, as some homophobes might wish—a “successful” conversion or repentance. Instead, it goes back to 1945 and even earlier. He was already interned for the same “crime” in Nazi labor camps. The film lays bare that despite regime change—from Nazism to West Germany—the persecution continues. The same legal paragraph, the same courtroom logic. Oppression is rebranded under democracy.

Director Sebastian Meise masterfully peels back layers of truth through intimate encounters in prison. Hoffmann arrives as a new inmate with tattoos that serve as living reminders of past horrors. The film also explores Viktor’s story—a seemingly straight man whose "orientation" appears to shift in prison. But it’s not about labels or conversion. It’s about survival, companionship, and sharing a life with someone. These moments are fascinating, tender, and deeply sad, with extraordinarily effective performances.

Franz Rogowski is astonishing as Hoffmann. He is so raw, layered, and alive that you forget you’re watching a performance at all. It’s one of the best acting turns I’ve seen in years.

What bothered me, though, is Meise’s choice to hold nothing back with nudity. It’s very explicit—at times, even vulgar for my taste. As a history nerd, I also wish the film had included clearer visual markers of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals—like the pink triangle—to tie it more firmly to that specific history.

Still, Große Freiheit is one of the most important and authentic films about LGBTQ+ history I’ve seen in a long time. It offers an unblinking, humane study of how criminal laws and social stigma destroy lives—even after the fall of a dictatorship. It’s a vital reminder that rights are not gifts from the state but hard-won fights that demand memory and vigilance.

Rating:
⭐ 8/10
Film/Cinematography: 7/10 (sometimes too explicit for my taste)
Authenticity: 10/10 (Meise’s film is a rigorously honest, devastating portrait)

Hats off—especially to the hugely impressive Rogowski.

This movie was funnier than I expected. [spoiler]The ending was funny too, but very tonally different. I thought it was a weird decision and didn't really fit with the rest of the movie.[/spoiler] However, I enjoyed this movie a lot and found the lead performances to be excellent.

Like a sharpened pencil with no paper, Great Freedom has a point but nothing to say.

This Austrian film about a man who's constantly in prison due to his homosexuality (the film is set in Germany, where homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969) excels in many areas: most notably a tour de force performance by lead actor Franz Rogowski, but also the superb directing by Sebastian Meise.

Great Freedom is gorgeous like a woman waking up into a hangover with a fat lip, no makeup, and puke matted in her unruly hair, yet who remains effortlessly beautiful the entire time.

Unfortunately, what the film lacks is everything else. There's no narrative arc, no story, the characters don't have dreams or aspirations and the conflict doesn't live up to the cruelty borne by the images.

Meise even suspects this himself because he takes that short cut all directors do to liven up a boring film: chop the time-line into pieces and mix it up so we have to puzzle it together to distract us from thinking about how not a whole lot happens in the film.

Still, there's enough happening below the surface to justify a viewing, though maybe not a 116-minute run time.