"Coming Out" is an East German 105-minute film from 1989, so this one was made shortly before the Fall of the Berlin Wall and it will soon have its 30th anniversary. The director is Heiner Carow and the screenplay is by Erika Richter and Wolfram Witt. For these two, it is definitely the most known work today and for Carow I believe his most known is still the one about Paul and Paul, but I think this one here is way better. The cast also includes a handful known actors today. I am not familiar with lead actor Freihof though, which is disappointing as he plays his role well. But Manzel and Gwisdek are known to everybody with an interest in German film these days. Just like the main character in "Taxi zum Klo", another gay-themed German film from the 1980s, the protagonist here is a teacher. That's really the only parallel though as this one here is really not ready to show everybody that he is a homosexual. The film is also not as obscene and in your face. It is a movie that is really about sexual identity and has no intention to be controversial, only to be realistic. That's why Freihof's character ends up in a relationship with a woman before, at a party, really discovering who he is and his heterosexual relationship as well as his profession make thing really complicated overall. This movie never drags, which is quite an achievement for a film over 100 minutes. And it goes out on a very high note as the story of the old homosexual is very touching and shows our "hero" that his situation could actually be a lot worse, which makes it somehow an uplifting film I guess. It's nice to see the awards recognition it deserved and this is a contender of my favorite GDR movie for sure. Sadly, this country has not been too great in terms of filmmaking, but here we have one that really stands out. And this also applies to the big number of gay-themed (short) films that are mostly forgettable. I very much recommend the watch. I was occasionally closer to giving this one an 8 instead of a 6 out of 10.
Review of Coming Out
