Bent
by Sean Mathias
On the eve of the “Night Of The Long Knives" in Fascist Berlin, Max and Rudy, both alternately decadent and innocent, continue their selfish lives. A chance encounter at Greta's nightclub leads directly into the hands of Hitler's men and exposes them as homosexuals. The couple spends two long years on the run, begging favours from reluctant friends and relatives, living rough and enduring harsh conditions. They are finally caught and sent by train to incarceration in a detention Camp. On the train they suffer at the hands of their guards. Rudy is beaten and tortured and Max is forced to collude in his death. At the camp, Max is befriended by Horst, a prisoner wearing the pink triangle oft homosexual. They endure simple, relentlessly brutal lives. Max pretends to be a Jew, wearing a yellow star, to escape the persecution handed out by guards and prisoners alike to those they brand perverts - the homosexuals. Max and Horst find a way to express their feelings for each other without being detected and Max recognises his overwhelming feelings for another person. The appalling camp conditions, the bleak winter weaken Horst. Maxfinally takes command of his own destiny.
