PARAGRAPH 175 (2000) C & B/W? widescreen? 81m dirs: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

w/Rupert Everett, Klaus Muller, Karl Gorath, Pierre Seel, Heinz F., Annette Eick, Albrecht Becker, Gad Beck, Heinz Dormer, Marlene Dietrich, Magnus Hirschfeld, Adolf Hitler, Ernst Rohm

Mick LaSalle's contemporary review of the film from the San Francisco Chronicle:

"The title of the new documentary by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Paragraph 175, refers to a statute that once prohibited homosexuality in Germany. Amplified and rigorously prosecuted by the Nazis, the statute resulted in the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust. 

"Until now, this aspect of the Holocaust has not been the subject of intensive study. Using interviews with the handful of survivors, intermixed with archival footage, the filmmakers create an exquisite and powerful documentary -- one whose elegance only heightens its devastating impact. 

"The film begins in the pre-Nazi days of Weimar Germany, in which homosexuality was open and tolerated in the clubs of Berlin. The Weimar opening works in two ways. It reminds the audience of how quickly the social and political climate can turn from tolerance to repression. It also benefits from the living memory of AIDS, which, like the Nazis, seemingly came out of nowhere and ended a period of exuberance. 

"The strongest element of the film is the presence of the survivors. Their reluctance to speak says as much as their words. There is a powerful moment when a man, who has been somewhat reticent, explodes into an angry tirade, telling the interviewer that he still bleeds every day from the experiments the Nazis did on him in the prison camps. 

"In such moments, the audience feels directly touched by the Holocaust's cold breath. 

"This film contains photos and descriptions of violence."