By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Bruce LaBruce
Starring: Andreas Stich | Daniel Bätscher | Dean Monroe | Gerrit | Joeffrey | Susanne Sachße
Country: germany
Year: 2004
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390418/combined
Ron says: “The revolution is my boyfriend: Gay cinema’s rude boy Bruce LaBruce was surprised when his film THE RASPBERRY REICH was accepted for Sundance. I thought it would be a hoot to see a LaBruce film that was a little more mainstream, so I encouraged all my (mostly straight) friends to join me. Yowser! I never expected I would be sitting in a theatre at Sundance watching hard core gay porn, but that’s exactly what happened. And as with most porn, it was bad — but it wasn’t bad enough to be good. The film combined equally heavy-handed doses of porn and politics. It spoke a lot of truth and had a lot of great messages, but that’s also where the problem is. The viewers that most need to hear these messages will be the first to
be shocked and disgusted with the presentation. In fact, dozens of people left the theatre within the first few minutes (including one poor woman who ran down the stairs so fast she fell … and heartless bastard that I am, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at the absurdity of it all). My other big problem with the film was the cast … mostly German porn stars, all lean to muscular, shaved and/or hairless, young, white, and massively hung. I think it dilutes the anti-capitalism message when your cast is undistinguishable from mainstream corporate porn.”