Race d’Ep! (French) [The Homosexual Century]

This is a 4 part documentary drama feature that argues that 'gay liberation was not born in the 60's' but, instead, had its roots in the mid-19th century. Created by radical filmmaker Lionel Soukaz, Race d'Ep! traces the confluence between the development of photography in the 19th Century, and subsequent representations of homosexual desire. The film’s title is French street-slang for “homosexual”.

We witness this through four densely collaged chapters. Starting with “the period of the pose” in the early 1900's. We see actual von Gloeden photos interspersed among fanciful re-creations of the artist’s studio and his models, the beautiful young men indulging in some XXX alfresco fun when not standing motionless in front of a camera. The second chapter in 20s and 30s centered on Magnus Hirschfeld, the valiant Weimar-era physician and sexologist. This is when the term homosexual was coined and the idea being explored. We then move to the 60s where our narrator says, “The modern world was made for orgasms….For a young fag, those years were close to paradise". And then finally in the 80s structured as 'royal opera' around an encounter between a hard-left gay separatist and a closeted American, as the two men stroll along various cruising grounds.

This documentary was an interesting watch. Surely, I am no intellectual to dissect these episodes of their truth or reality, but as a gay man, it does educate me on things and ideas which I wasn't aware of. The first part of all the four was most interesting because of a very compelling storyline in the background and the re-enactment of scenes that made it engaging. The film heart is in part three though, the shortest sequence: its swooning, lovesick memory of the sixties as an era of erotic freedom and limitless potential was almost unbearably poignant for this younger viewer. Overall an interesting piece of information on gay history. (5/10)