Review of A Love to Hide (2005) by Paul Z — 07 Jul 2008

A Love To Hide is about the treatment of homosexuals during WWII and how it was equal to the hideous torture and massacre of the Jews. Why is this subject such uncommon knowledge amongst people? Even history buffs are barely privy to this horror. This intense and powerful film portrays gays and the effects of their lives upon their family and in the German occupation. The film very clearly realizes the importance of the long-anticipated awareness of it all, and it's very important that people see this film, whether it's perfect or not as a movie.

The film has one effecting flaw, one that matters greatly to the reaction of the audience to the story, and that is simply the character of Sara, played by Louise Monot. Are we not supposed to like her very much, or are we supposed to and the fact that she is selfish, greedy, cold, and manipulative is overlooked by the writers or meant to be forgiven? I wouldn't mind if the answer to this question were clear in the film. It just isn't. Frankly, I felt like I was supposed to care about her, but I was so angry with her for how deeply causal she is in nearly every violently sad thing that happens. She causes a lot of emotional pain and grisly violence to happen to people in this film, and she never appears to be feeling guilt or regret, perhaps because of the dense factor of her character's selfishness that would cause her to either care too little or not realize her follies. This is all unclear.

However, the story itself is increasingly riveting as it goes on. The final 45 minutes are actually physically stunning. The film's cast packs a punch, even right down to the bit portrayals of Nazi generals and soldiers, which are inducing of great anger. A Love To Hide must not be another foreign gem or highly historically important film to go overlooked by American audiences.