Nicht der Homosexuelle ist Pervers, Sondern Die Situation, in der er lebt (German) [It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives]

Its hard to call this film as either a documentary or a proper feature film. And that has nothing to do with the longest title for a movie I have ever seen. The entire film is accompanied by voice-overs that are sometimes commentaries about the different gay life's styles and sometimes represent dialogue or narrations. There is no synch sound. The voice over and dialogue recorded do not match what is on the screen. It takes some time to get used to the format but then you find it ok. I think this is meant to be a perspective of and for a young gay man back in 1971.

Daniel is a young, shy and innocent gay man who has just moved to Berlin. He meets Clemens and immediately both fall in love and get into the marriage kind of arrangement. But Daniel soon feels suffocated and leaves him. He find a rich older man who introduces him to art life style but once at a party the old man leaves Daniel for his other rich older friends. Daniel leaves him too, finds a place of his own and get a job. This is where he actually gets into the gay 'scene'. He spends time cruising guys on terrace, being in shape is suddenly important, fashion sense and making themselves attractive for others and just sleep around with anyone you can find. 2 years into the scene and Daniel is now bored of meeting men in elegant cafés, boutiques, and beaches. Now, he seeks out pickups at the bars for quick sex or even public toilets for that matter. Gays rarely have difficulties connecting in big cities. It is easy for them to find men they can have sex with because they offer themselves on every street corner like whores. Towards the end, Daniel meets Paul who takes him to his commune where a group of men, lying around naked, openly criticize their superficial, closeted lifestyles, sexual hang ups, fashion, and need to be validated.

You may think that the film is dated, given it came in 1971, but if you look clearly, its not so dated as many viewers might prefer to think. Most of the topics that are covered in this docu-drama the idolization of youth and marginalization of older gays; the materialism of gays; the competitiveness of gays; and the hypersexualization of gay "culture" with its tendency to cause isolation and loneliness are discussed with honesty and are as relevant in today's time as they were in 1971. `coming to the presentation aspect, the film is full of flaws. There is not a single stereotype about gays that is not included here. The acting bit is also boring. I wish at least the direct scenes had synced dialogues and not voice overs. I fail to understand what the whole point was. And then there were long scenes of music and dancing, which added nothing to the story and feel like a drag after a while. The topic, though. interesting, soon gets very boring after a certain point

This is different, very different. Watch it, if you have nothing better. Its not awful but  adds nothing more to the fact other than that all not much has changed in the gay scene between 1971 and now. Yes we have more acceptance but our internal marginalization within the community still very much exists. (4/10)