Pride Movies to Watch
(or great films to check out otherwise)
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The Circle (2014)(Der Kreis) German
Drama, Directed by Stefan Haupt
102 minutes German with English subtitles
NR
Warnings: Nudity, graphic scenes of sexuality, profanity
This was one of the films I picked up at the library, seeing the beautiful cover of two men embracing. Turns out theirs is a real life love story, based in post WWII Switzerland, one of the few countries at the time to not criminalize gay people. In America at this time McCarthyism is running strong, fueling homophobic fear along with the fear of Communism.
The Circle (Der Kreis), is named after the magazine founded in 1932, first focusing on lesbian issues before becoming exclusively gay in focus. It was run by Rolf (Karl Meier) an actor and gay man who also ran the club of the same name which hosted an international ball in Zürich, the epicenter of gay events in Europe.
Röbi Rapp, a drag entertainer who is involved in The Circle, meets Ernst Ostertag, a school teacher whose closeted sexuality is kept hidden from his upper-class family. Ernst becomes a member of The Circle and eventually helps with the editing, with his knowledge of English, to publish the more risqué stories in the magazine.
The film opens with the documentary part, showing the now elderly couple, Röbi and Ernst, based in their home in Switzerland. They first gay couple to be married in the country (although the laws aren't clear regarding if same-sex marriage is fully legal).
The movie switches between documentary style narration and film, like a scenic flashback of events with commentary from those living. There is a lot of historical context with the romantic love story.
Although homosexuality was not a crime in Switzerland at the time, there was growing homophobia and hate crimes against the gay members of The Circle. The members were suspected in murders committed by a "Rent Boy" (a person paid for sexual acts) who preyed upon gay men. The police raided The Circle and their club during these murders, as portrayed in the movie, assaulting Ernst and holding him as suspect.
Attacked and blamed for these murders, members of The Circle/Der Kreis, were also blamed for attracting rent boys to Zürich, making it an international go-to for gays everywhere in Europe. Lesbians were also popular though less seen in the movie, as they were a part of the gay culture in Zürich.
There was still censorship in Switzerland and the magazine, Der Kreis, was closely monitored. Overall, the atmosphere at the time was a cautious liberal attitude, quickly overturned by any upset or threat to the heterosexuals. Members of Der Kreis were mostly closeted to their families and outside society.
Through it all, Ernst and Röbi survive the tumult and their relationship thrives into their old age. Röbi's performance, singing the song from Ernst's youth, is a poignant part of the story which is sweet and endearing. Though Ernst didn't come out until age 70, his relationship with Röbi was finally realized at they were married, carriage and all.
Only recently have the rights of gay marriages been recognized as legal and binding. There are still places that do not recognize gay marriage, even in the U.S. where a conservative person in the White House threatens to undo all the progress made since the Stonewall riots in 1969.
Finding a gay love story so eloquently told in movies is rare with most homosexual films and portrayals ending in tragedy or sacrifice. Only a few times does the audience witness a lasting bond between members of the same sex that isn't harmful or abusive in films.
This story hit me on a personal level...
I remember my own experience at age 17, going through doubts about my sexuality but with no one to turn to for help. As I lived in a small college town in the 1990's, homosexuality was still closeted and the last gay bar there had closed years ago. Pride was celebrated almost secretly in a venue called Manzanita Place, although it was really the Elks Lodge--but you weren't supposed to say that.
A center aptly called Stonewall was my only resource as a questioning teen, not yet an adult by law. Stonewall was hidden in an old building where the maze-like offices hid the center fairly well. I only found the place by browsing the internet, thankfully my faithful source of information at the time.
I was too scared to tell anyone what I was going through, only having seen a preview of the film, Boys Don't Cry, as I wondered if I was transgendered, lesbian or simply a freak. I had no idea what I was going through and was only offered glimpses of this other life through secret meetings I arranged online with much older people (who didn't know I was only 17).
It's hard to describe the feeling I felt as an outcast of society, where gay rights and an open Pride celebration wouldn't be recognized until 10 years later in the so-called liberal college town, set amidst red-necked farmers and Republicans who threatened to shoot any gay they saw on the street.
Stonewall offered me a solace and safe place, much the same as Der Kreis offered Ernst and Röbi. I had secretly read all the Stonewall library books I could on lesbian sexuality, transgendered experiences, butch and dyke stories and quite a few erotica stories. I was on a quest to understand what I was going through and along with online exploration through chatrooms, found myself still confused with my sexuality.
There weren't many positive examples of women lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people for me to watch, as most films ended in murder, suicide, tragedy or strange obsession that bordered on mental illness. Most depictions of homosexuality resembled a text-book illustration of madness, depression and immorality--rather than a realistic portrayal of real people who happened to be non-heterosexuals.
I attended the Pride event hosted by Stonewall secretly, dressing myself in butch attire whenever I could with a masculine attitude that came off strange at times with my friends, though I began making more open-minded friends as a result.
I suffered the usual attacks at home-school (better than public school though), with slanders against me being a lesbian as I attended a school dance dressed as Zorro and had danced with a girl who thought I was a guy. Who was I to dissuade her from the fantasy?
I bravely ventured to put a rainbow ribbon on my car, only to have my oldest brother tell my grandmother, it meant the whole family was gay. I was ordered to remove the ribbon as a result.
My grandmother found out about my sexuality when I later introduced her to a much older woman (who I met online when I was 17), as my girlfriend. My grandmother cried and cried but told me she loved me no matter what. The older woman dumped me soon after when I wouldn't have sex with her. So much for that...
I later learned that there was no simple answer to how I felt and that many people I met online were very flakey and wanted only to take advantage of me. The friendships at Stonewall helped me to accept myself, whoever I was, and that I didn't have to choose right away how to label myself. If I hadn't had this opportunity, it would've been a much harder lesson for me to learn with many more mistakes I could've made with people of questionable motives.
Forty years later I went through what Ernst and Röbi had, in an age of technology still fraught with homophobia. Even now, the question of gay rights looms large in front of a conservative cabinet running the White House, voted in by rich Republicans who've never had their lives endangered by threats of rape, abuse, murder or suicide.
Over fifty years later after WWII, Hitler and Der Kreis, gay people still live in fear through repression, assault, murder and suicide. Gay marriage still isn't recognized all over the world. Adoptions are a lengthly and complicated process for gay couples (when they are allowed to adopt). HIV and AIDS which has killed millions (35 million globally www.who.int/gho/hiv/en/, ) once thought of as the gay disease, has brought about a near-cure and prevention miracle for medicine and pharmaceutical companies to make billions of dollars, saving the lives of both gays and heterosexuals.
The obstacles faced by non-heterosexuals are still present with stories that continue to astound and fascinate.
The Circle/Der Kreis, also features a short documentary of a transgendered pilot who faced a legal battle with Social Security after they decided her marriage to her husband wasn't valid and that she wasn't entitled to benefits after her husbands death. The short, "Flying Solo: A Transgender Widow Fights Discrimination" is presented by Lambda legal (https://www.lambdalegal.org/):
Lambda Legal, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
In Der Kreis, it is asked by one character, "Why can't we live how we want? Love how we want?" Why do we still face this fear? Perhaps it is one question that holds no answer but the story continues, as we carry on.
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Happy Pride 2017!
Be Safe, Be Proud!
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Resources
Wikipedia:
Der Kreis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Kreis
The Circle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(2014_film)
Stonewall Riots - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots
LGBT rights in Switzerland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Switzerland#Recognition_of_same-sex_relationships
"Flying Solo" on Lambda Legal -https://www.lambdalegal.org/flyingsolo
