Great Freedom is a decent gay prison drama that's hard-hitting with its theme and story, yet rather stingy with its emotional outlets. It's not one of my favorite queer movies of recent years, but seeing Franz Rogowski offering a bold, layered performance, which may or may not involve spreading his cheeks for the world to see, is enough reason to check this out.

Chronicling a German concentration camp survivor's decades of dehumanized experiences in jail simply because of his sexuality, Great Freedom is a self-critical, somber look back into a dark period of German history where gay citizens were ruthlessly punished for being themselves. Franz Rogowski is the perfect candidate to pull off the tall order of a loner longing for love and connection in a loveless world of despair and confinement. From the shocking extremity of nudity to the demanding switch of different personalities, Rogowski truly reinvents himself as one of the most promising European indie actors right now. Georg Friedrich, the Silver Bear for Best Actor recipient, is the perfect choice to match Rogowski's superb performance with his own high-caliber, heartfelt delivery.

What ultimately prevents Great Freedom from reaching the next level is for sure its fractured narrative to present the story in a non-linear manner, which is by no way groundbreaking, yet completely throws off all the momentum it's supposed to build. Also, the character building, especially for the ing characters, could've been more in depths to create more emotional resonance with the audience. Luckily Great Freedom has an impressively symbolic and heartfelt ending to salvage its less flattering moments and eventually makes the whole experience worthwhile.