October 2000 | Out in the Mountains I29

  
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
    
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
  

Out Behind the Wall

A REVIEW BY KEVIN Moss

A suicidal gay teen; a young man who falls into a relationship
with a woman to avoid facing his true feelings; a gay high school
teacher terrified of coming out. These people and situations can
turn up anywhere, even in Vermont today. What makes Heiner
Carow’s treatment of them in Coming Out different is that his film
is set in East Berlin before the fall of the Wall. In fact, the film pre-
miered on Nov. 9, 1989, the very day the Wall was opened, which
may explain how it got lost in the general tumult that followed.
But it shouldn’t have: Coming Out is the first feature film really
about gay life from Eastern Europe. It won a Teddy (the gay prize)
and a Berlin Festival Silver Bear in 1990.

While homosexuality was decriminalized in the GDR in 1968,
East German society remained socially conservative and con-
strained by the surveillance of the secret police. Yet by the 1980s,
there was a fledgling gay movement (harbored, like other dissi-
dent social movements in East Germany, by the church) and a
number of discreet gay bars. It is the latter and the underground
gay world that form the real background for this ground-breaking
film.

In the opening scenes, we meet Matthias, who is rushed
to the hospital, where his stomach is pumped after a sui-
cide attempt. The nurse reassures him that being gay is no
reason to cry. 9

Next we meet Philipp, and the first part of the film
explores his budding relationship with Tanja, a fellow
teacher at the high school. Philipp, played by hunky
Matthias Freihof, is awkward, shy, and tentative. Women
seem attracted to him both because he’s cute as a button
and because he lets them make the first move.

If you think you know why Philipp’s so tentative,
you’re right! When he tells his mother about his new

met before and have a history, though we don’t find
out for sure what kind just yet. “We were...” (long
pause) “classmates,” the friend interjects. Phew! Safe
for now! But the encounter sends Philipp into a
brooding stroll, where he happens in front of a gay
bar and is dragged inside. '

That’s where the fun begins: in a carnivalesque
setting (the costumes remind one of Priscilla,

girlfriend, her shock at the news is yet another hint.
When he meets a friend of Tanja’s, it’s obvious they’ve ~

"~-, ._