Homophobia (German Short Film)

I usually do not write separate posts to review a short film. Rather I club them together but this one was actually really well done and I just felt that just a couple of sentences for this film would not be sufficient.

Michael, a gay guy serves in Austrian military. He has been away from home and isolated form friends and family. This isolation and the attractiveness of his fellow comrade Raphael, gets Michael attracted to him very strongly. Michael is very used to being bullied on a daily basis. Jürgen, the alpha male in the group, has found the perfect victim in Michael. During taking a shower Jürgen bullies Michael once more but this time something is different, Michael bring about Jürgen's downfall both literally and figuratively. The game is on and Jürgen uses his most powerful weapon - his knowledge about Michael's secret and in a fight ends up punching him. Michael is emotionally hurt that Raphael didn't rescue him. The same night on a mission, Raphael and Michael spend a night together at the border smoking a joint together and finally Michael's feelings reach to a point where he just blurts it out to Raphael.

The film aims to portray fear of the unknown as the reason behind homophobia. We see that Raphael is so scared of returning his feelings to Michael because he is afraid. Not only that, the film also shows the fear of accepting yourself as gay. The direction of the film is fantastic and the camerawork does give a sense of claustrophobia that Michael probably is experiencing. Excellent acting and a touching subject and treatment makes this short films one of the better ones to come out in recent times. It can be a universal story of just about anyone. (7.5/10)