Great Freedom

- Great Freedom [2021] - 77
Just the one this week… don’t remember what I was doing, but I’m sure it was less stressful than what Hans and Viktor were up to. Great Freedom is a 2021 film showcasing the insanity of illegalizing love, this time through multiple decades inside a German prison. The film sets out to showcase the tribulations of individuals victimized by Paragraph 175, humanize them in ways that make them more than their sexual orientations, and put a spotlight on the shortcomings of the prison system as a whole in terms of rehabilitation and the preparedness it gives inmates for reentry. It succeeds in all of these goals well, it’s just a little dry while doing so. None of its characters are bad or boring, they’re just a little bland, and that makes for a bit of a slog when you’re talking about a 1:56 runtime. I do think that Great Freedom is good [even great in some contexts], but it is also one of those things I’d rather just watch a documentary about, instead of a drama.