Bent Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Bent Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 2, 2020

There are a number of iconic plays from the 20th century, pieces as remarkable as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, that are so inherently theatrical that any attempt to adapt them into either the television or film medium has either never been attempted, or done so with the built in “staginess” completely intact (probably because it’s completely unavoidable). Martin Sherman’s acclaimed play Bent probably hasn’t quite reached the perceived echelon of either Waiting for Godot or Six Characters in Search of an Author, but it’s typically very highly regarded, especially in LGBTQ+ circles, where the play’s examination of persecution suffered by gays at the hands of the Nazi regime was considered groundbreaking when Bent first debuted in London in 1979. That said, Bent is in its own way as theatrical as either of the other aforementioned works, and some elements, as in the Nazis forcing two gay characters to senselessly (in both senses of the word) move piles of stones from one end of a prison yard (and several other locales) to another over and over, seem like they would be perfectly at home in the world of Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot.

In a way, it’s perhaps even more instructive to compare at least parts of the film adaptation of Bent to Bob Fosse’s film version of Cabaret than to either Waiting for Godot or Six Characters in Search of an Author, at least insofar as both Bent and Cabaret depict what some would call the sleaziness of the Berlin night club scene during the nascent Nazi era (it should be added that Bent seems to be taking place at least a little further into the Nazi era than Cabaret). The “club” scenes in Bent come into play courtesy of focal character Max (Clive Owen), a “party hearty” type who frequents a patently bizarre emporium run by a cross dresser named Greta (Mick Jagger in a piece of stunt casting) that seems to be located in a ruin. While Max is shown chatting with and kissing various women, he is also shown to be intimate with men, and in fact his relationships with men (sexual and otherwise) form the underlying foundation of the story. But both Bent and Cabaret in their film versions exploit what I'd call the almost Fellini-esque ambience of the 1930s club scene in Berlin, with the Nazi element hanging around the "fringes" (so to speak) as a kind of menacing sidebar.

Part of what didn't work for me personally in this film adaptation is in fact a kind of disconnect between the blatantly theatrical opening scenes in Greta's club, with later, ostensibly more "realistic", depictions of Max at Dachau. But even the prison camp sequences can be weirdly presentational, as in those aforementioned scenes where Max and another prisoner named Horst (Lothaire Bluteau) engage in the sort of toil that might be referred to as the lateral equivalent of Sisyphus' task with his boulder. Max ends up at the horrifying location after he has the misfortune to have a dalliance with a Nazi officer who ends up getting swept up in Hitler's so-called "Night of the Long Knives" rout of folks Hitler thought were being disloyal to him. That in turn puts the fates of Max and his boyfriend Rudy (Brian Webber II) at jeopardy, though rather interestingly Max's gay Uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen, who played Max in the original London production) can provide Max with exit papers to France since homosexuality there isn't considered a crime. That's an offer Max ends up refusing since he wants to stay with Rudy, a choice which ends up with both Max and Rudy being arrested.

A kind of analog to Sophie's Choice arrives for Max when after a horrifying train trip to Dachau which Rudy doesn't survive, he decides to renounce being gay in "favor" of being Jewish (which he isn't) when he's questioned by guards. That makes his later relationship with Horst, who does wear the "pink triangle" the Nazis assigned to gay people at the camps, fraught with danger, but it also provides Bent with its most potent emotional content.

Bent just never quite worked for me for some of the reasons listed above, but that said, it's provocative and in its final scene quite moving, despite (again) what I perceived to be overly florid writing, as Max engages in what amounts to a monologue (even if he's holding another character). That said, I think few would probably deny the power of the film's closing seconds, when Max has to finally make peace with who he is and what that means.

Bent Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bent is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. At least some of the previous Film Movement releases I've personally reviewed have had some kind of technical data in the insert booklets (however minimal it may have been), but I don't see anything in this one, and so can't comment on the provenance of the element or master. Generally speaking, though, this is a very healthy and organic looking presentation, though one that can occasionally encounter a few difficulties in grain resolution and clarity. You can see the somewhat pixellated looking grain field against darker backgrounds in screenshots 4 and 19). On the whole, things only looked rough to me in the darkest moments, with the rest of the presentation looking considerably more natural. The palette is tamped down, especially in the gray and blue saturated prison camp scenes, where even "Nazi reds" can look a little wan. Fine detail in close-ups is typically quite good, offering precise looks at the roughhewn fabrics of the prisoner of war outfits, and even the kind of chalky surfaces of the stones that Max and Horst have to keep moving back and forth.

Bent Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bent features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 track that capably supports the film's dialogue, as well as a rather interesting if at times slightly bizarre score by Philip Glass. Those who associate Glass' name with the shimmering minimalism and kind of evanescent, amorphous quality that I discussed with Glass' frequent directorial collaborator Godfrey Reggio in my now long ago interview with Reggio might be surprised by some of the music here. There certainly is some of the "wafting" quality of a lot of Glass' music, but some of his string cues here struck me as reminiscent of John Williams' haunting work for Schindler's List. I'm not quite sure what to make out of the Art Song (?) featured prominently in the film with Jagger as Greta, but it's notable (no pun intended) for being the rare Glass song (that I can think of, anyway) that only features solo piano accompaniment.

Bent Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes Footage (480i; 11:35)


• Streets of Berlin Music Video (480i; 2:43) features the patently odd song co-written by Philip Glass that Jagger sings in the film.


• Brian Webber Interview (480i; 1:42)


• Clive Owen Interview (480i; 1:52)


• Ian McKellen Interview (480i; 1:33)


• Lothaire Bluteau Interview (480i; 2:22)


• Martin Sherman Interview (480i; 1:41)


• Mick Jagger Interview (480i; 1:41)


• Sean Mathias Interview (480i; 2:14)


• Bent 2018 Trailer (1080p; 1:52)


• Bent Original Theatrical Trailer (480i; 2:35)

Trailers for other Film Movement releases are also included on the disc, and the release comes with Film Movement's typically nicely appointed insert booklet.

Bent Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you have seen and appreciated the original stage version of Bent, my hunch is you'll find a lot to appreciate in this film adaptation. Those coming to this project without any foreknowledge may find this occasionally distancing due to some of its presentational aspects, but there's no denying that the film does build to a considerable emotionally devastating climax. Performances are excellent throughout, and technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.