THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The film, set in Berlin in 1942, shows the outward appeal of the Third Reich at its height to impressionable German teenage boys—beginning with the advantages presented by acceptance into the country's ruling political power. These young men naturally also loved the luxurious perks, the undeniably fashionable uniforms, the excessive vanity and emphasis on physicality and beauty, and, of course, the seductive elitism. The film is almost a metaphorical tale of addiction, with the high so preferable to real life that one quickly throws everything—character, principles, loved ones—out the window in order to repeat it.

These enticing advantages are what tantalize Friedrich ( Max Riemelt ) after he receives an invitation to join the Napola—a Nazi elite school that trained future leaders the Third Reich planned on having govern London, New York, Moscow—and Chicago. Friedrich is a high school graduate with a gift for boxing who's also the son of impoverished parents and facing a dead-end job in a factory alongside his father. When he's spotted during an exhibition and offered an invitation to join the Napola, his father, who apparently discerns the insidiousness of the Nazis, refuses to allow him to go. But the determined Friedrich forges his signature to the permission slip and is impressed by the strong welcome he receives at the luxurious castle where the Napolas live and train. Quickly, however, he learns that he's enrolled himself in an elite finishing school that emphasizes cruelty and discipline over kindness and decency.

This truly dawns with the arrival of the quiet, bookish Albrecht ( Tom Schilling ) , the son of the governor of the province who helps Friedrich slowly begin to understand what a horrendous future awaits him. Albrecht is given preferential treatment but soon his preference for poetry and writing over brute force becomes 'suspect.' The rough-hewn, buff blond Friedrich is drawn to the dark, contemplative Albrecht and though the mutual attraction is merely implied, it's easy to fill in the blanks.

This homoerotic subtext is a running undercurrent throughout the film. The movie frankly acknowledges the sexiness of fascism—with its emphasis on muscular physical perfection—an uneasy link with gay, and increasingly, straight culture. It's not hard to see why Picture This! Entertainment, a premiere distributor of gay films, has picked up the movie. It's filled to the brim with beautiful teenage boys and many times throughout it seems the subtext will move to the forefront.

First Friedrich's coach seems just seconds away from taking him in the boxing ring, then one of his roommates begs to see illicit photos ( which turn out to be of another cadet's sisters ) , next one of Friedrich's sadistic classmates seems about to accept sexual favors in return for silence about another student's constant bedwetting. There is a moment where the bed wetter is order to strip and pee on his mattress in front of the entire class. And so on. I kept waiting for the clandestine midnight circle jerk—perhaps hoping this might veer off into a gay version of The Night Porter or an updating of The Damned.

But Gansel keeps the lid on—even with all those Come Hither looks between Albrecht and Friedrich. These continue to escalate as does the conflict between Albrecht and his disapproving father. Finally, when the students are rousted one night to help hunt down and shoot what they are told are escaped Russian prisoners in the nearby forest, pacifist Albrecht can take no more and stands up to his father in front of the others. Tragic consequences then intercede.

In interviews, the 33-year-old Gansel has said that he wrote the film after witnessing years of arguments between his rigid, right-wing grandfather who was himself an instructor in a Napola-like school, and his father and uncles, who were pacifists. Out of that he has managed to make a very human drama within one of the most inhuman regimes in recorded history—with a distinctly gay subtext to boot. Subtitled in German. Opens Friday at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. www.landmarktheatres.com