Paragraph 175 (2000) Reviews

As a gay American and Historian, I was disappointed with this documentary. Certainly, these stories need to be told; but I felt the producers missed the mark. I highly recommend seeing the National Holocaust Museum in D.C.; for it paints a more detailed picture of the Nazi treatment of Homosexuals. As for Blockbuster- please screen these reviews more carefully and remove Homophobic and anti-semetic responses. I didn't appreciate that the very first review of this movie was written by a close minded bigot. Thank you!
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I was not aware that the torture and murder of people was acceptable if these people are out of fashion. Even if you don't approve of homosexuality, there is no excuse for the kind of inhuman treatement they have received. The Nazis demonstrated quite clearly what people like Mr. Hicks don't understand, that even in the most "advanced" and "civilized" countries people may make an exception to the injunction to love one's neighbor when that neighbor isn't quite like oneself. I think back on the example of Jesus, who pleaded for us to "Judge not lest you be judged" and "Let he who is free of sin cast the first stone," and how he was willing to spend time and associate with those society despised, and how such compassion and caring is utterly lacking in Mr. Hicks' review. (Perhaps this is because Mr. Hicks quite obviously dislikes Jews and Jesus was one.) I just hope you never find yourself facing someone as uncompassionate who finds you out of fashion.
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I was pleased to see that this film included information on the treatment of lesbians under Hitler's regime (including an interview with a lesbian), since the focus is often solely on the gays' persecution. Watching the survivors struggle to tell their stories--some yelling, others whispering, most of them crying--was truly heart-wrenching. One can't help but cry with one survivor, a 93 year-old who never got the courage to tell his father what happened to him at the "camps." The same with a French survivor, sent to the camps before he was 18, who screams at the (German) interviewer about how he still bleeds from his toturture at the hands of the Germans. The photos the film shows are also fascinating. Quite simply invaluable.
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This film was eye opening. When people think 'Holocaust' they think 'Jews.' Yes, the crimes against the Jewish people was horrible but we have to remember that many other groups also suffered. This movie wasn't meant to create sympathy for gays. It was meant to show how Nazi Germany treated people that were different from your traditional Aryan person. Rent this one.
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This "movie" is an attempt to legitimize homosexuality using sympathy the same way the Jews used Nazi Germany to gain sympathy. If you dare criticize the Zionist movement now you will be tagged as a anti-Semite or Jew hater. This has worked great for Jewish people trying to manipulate politicians in the past and now they have discovered that they can do the same thing with homosexuality. The two film makers are Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman, go figure. This is purely propaganda at its best and not worth the plastic it is stamped on. Steve Hicks
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