A Love To Hide

In the Holocaust, the Nazi regime killed six million Jews, but less well known is that they also targeted other ethnic and societal groups thought of as ‘undesirables’, including homosexual men. A Love to Hide tells the story of Jean and Philippe, two gay men secretly in love in occupied Paris. Jean helps hide a friend, a young Jewish woman, giving her a new identity, job, and a ‘cover’ as his fiancé. The three share a close bond, but everything is threatened by Jean’s jealous brother, leading to imprisonment and deportation to the concentration camps. Director Christian Faure wisely doesn’t seek to compare the suffering of the Third Reich's victims, but instead takes a wider approach with a nuanced and intelligent script showing how their evil touched the lives of everyone. Shockingly, the law criminalising homosexuality was upheld on liberation and many escaping the tortures of the camps were simply re-arrested and moved into prisons. While grim and occasionally horribly violent, this is nonetheless a worthy and thought provoking film. [Scotty McKellar]