Line #1 Film/Bent


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bent_ver1_1584.jpg]]
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3	->''"I love you, Horst... and what's wrong with that?"''
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5	''Bent'' is a 1997 film based on the 1979 play of the same name. It stars Creator/CliveOwen and Creator/LothaireBluteau in the lead roles, as well as a cameo appearance by Sir Creator/IanMcKellen.
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7	In this film, set in Berlin during the 1930s, Max (Owen) is a promiscuous customer of a popular cabaret. But after the Night of the Long Knives, he finds himself on the inside of a concentration camp. He convinced the guards that he was Jewish, rather than gay, under the belief that Jews would be treated better. But after coming into contact with the openly gay inmate Horst (Bluteau), Max has to decide whether it's more important to do whatever it takes to survive, or risk everything to show he is proud of who he is.
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9	----
10	!!''Bent'' provides examples of:
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12	* AintTooProudToBeg: Max. At first.
13	* AllGaysArePromiscuous: Averted. Max seems to be quite loose in the beginning of the movie, but his lover was ''very'' upset about him seeing other people. Horst, too, was shocked at what Max was willing to do with the guards to get some extra medicine.
14	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: While Horst is nearing a complete mental breakdown from their rock duties, he confesses to Max that he loves him. Much to Max's frustration, as Max refuses to risk giving the guards any reason to make their lives more hellish.
15	* ArmoredClosetGay: What Max was willing to do to hide his orientation from the Nazis left everyone... speechless.
16	* BuryYourGays: Given the story's [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust setting]], it makes sense. [[spoiler: Horst is shot by the guards, and then Max kills himself afterward.]]
17	* CantHaveSexEver: Horst and Max are forbidden to touch each other at all, they can't even make eye contact. They try to get around this by having very passionate and emotional verbal sex.
18	* CampGay: Rudy, Max's cabaret dancing boyfriend.
19	* CharacterDevelopment: Max started off as a drug using drunken floozy who was perfectly happy to cheat and lie to do whatever it takes to skirt danger. But after meeting Horst he gradually becomes a better person.
20	* ClubKid: Max was a 1930's equivalent of this trope. Taking cocaine, casual sex with men, and being a regular patron at cabarets.
21	* ComingOutStory
22	* CoolestClubEver: Max was a patron of some elaborate cabarets.
23	* CreepyCrossdresser: The informant who tells the Gestapo where to find one of their gay soldiers, which ends up causing Max to be sent into the camp, was the drag queen in the cabaret.
24	* CruelMercy: Max convinces the guards in the concentration camp to let him and Horst have a better, safer job than the other people. Taking rocks from one side of the room, and putting them in a neat pile on the other side of the room. They then have to repeat this task over and over, all day, every day. Eventually they both start going insane from this psychological torture, and start dreaming about piling rocks even in their sleep.
25	* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler: Horst gets killed by the guards. But he manages to scratch one's face, startling him.]]
26	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: The first 45 minutes or so showed Max and his lovers living it up in a cabaret while being altogether unpleasant.
27	* DownerEnding
28	* DragQueen: The cabaret featured a crossdresser, who ends up abandoning his lifestyle to run away and lie low from the Gestapo.
29	* DrivenToSuicide: This trope happens and is discussed multiple times in the movie.
30	* ForeShadowing: The song that the drag queen sings in the beginning, of having to leave Berlin for good, is exactly what he plans to do.
31	* ForgottenFallenFriend: Played for serious drama. By the end of the movie Max has forgotten Rudy's name after the torture he's experienced, and barely remembers his face.
32	* FourEyesZeroSoul: The bespectacled Nazi on the train.
33	* {{Gayngst}}
34	* GoodHairEvilHair: In the beginning Max has a fancy styled hair and a pencil thin mustache to show his being part of the uppercrust. After he's made bald and given PermaStubble he becomes sympathetic.
35	* IAmWhatIAm: Max's final act in the film is putting on a blood stained uniform with a pink triangle sewn on, [[spoiler: before killing himself.]]
36	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Max uses this as his justification throughout the movie. This includes being willing to do things like [[spoiler:beat his boyfriend to death, have sex with the recently murdered corpse of a teenage girl, or perform sexual acts for the guards]] if it meant even having a small chance of getting out of the camp alive.
37	* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Horst begins to develop one.
38	* TheLoad: Rudy, as far as Max is concerned.
39	* MadnessMantra: Max, during the train ride. "This isn't happening... this isn't happening.. this isn't happening.."
40	* OneWordTitle
41	* PleaseIWillDoAnything: Max's general plan of escape seems to be ''whatever it takes''.
42	* QueerRomance
43	* RemakeCameo: Sir Ian [=McKellen=], who played Max in the original production of ''Bent'' on stage, shows up in the film as Max's uncle.
44	* TalkingToTheDead: [[spoiler: The final dialogue in the movie is Max speaking to Horst's corpse after being forced to hold it for ten minutes straight.]]
45	* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:Horst is killed a few minutes after Max starts talking about the possibility of them having a future together.]]
46	* ThoseWackyNazis
47	* TraumaticHaircut: As is custom for the prisoners, Max has his stylish hair shaved off.

Context Film / Bent