Synopsis – Great Freedom

In post-war Germany, liberation by the Allies does not mean freedom for everyone. Hans (Franz Rogowski, from Undine and Transit) is imprisoned again and again under Paragraph 175, a law criminalizing homosexuality. Over the course of a quarter century, he develops an unlikely yet tender bond with his cellmate Viktor (Georg Friedrich), a convicted murderer, a junkie and an avowed homophobe.

Without these actors, a film so uncompromisingly true to its subject would wither on the vine. With these two however, the subtle play of feeling between them is gripping.