YMMV / Different from the Others

• Fair for Its Day: While the film does have some Values Dissonance that is likely to raise some eyebrows today, such the relationship being between that of a male teacher and his student and a Downer Ending that has the main gay protagonist Paul commit suicide, it also depicts the two and their relationship in a very sympathetic light (being amongst the first films to do so) and goes out of its way to make it clear (to the point of being Anvilicious) that being gay isn't wrong or unnatural and that it shouldn't be treated as a crime or as a mental illness. While the film might be problematic and outdated in some aspects, back in 1919, when homosexuality was widely regarded as being a taboo and illegal act, the film and its pro-gay message was extremely bold and progressive.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The film was created to protest discriminatory anti-gay laws in Weimar-era Germany. Two decades later, gay Germans would suffer far worse than mere discrimination under the Nazi regime. Worse, it's partially because of them burning the remaining copies that we don't even have the full film nowadays.
• Retroactive Recognition: This film was one of Conrad Veidt's very first roles, before he went on to make his most famous films, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Casablanca.

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