Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)

A "slip of a girly-boy from communist East Berlin, and internationally ignored song stylist." That's Hedwig. Born the year the Wall went up, Hedwig (formerly Hansel) was taken to the Russian Zone by his good communist mother where he was self-instructed in all ways American rock. An American G.I. and a botched sex-change operation brought the newly womanized Hedwig to the States where one pitfall after another was her fate. Reviled, graffitied, spit upon, she finally found solace in her other half, Tommy Speck. After months of love and musical collaboration, he stole their music, ran off and became the superstar known as Tommy Gnosis.

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is the off-Broadway rock musical written, directed and starring John Cameron Mitchell, and tells Hedwig's life story as she tours the nation, playing her music at fish buffets, out to expose Tommy for the fraud he is. It is a quest for recognition and redemption, and the film adaptation is the rebirth of the dead art of movie musicals.

There are tons of interesting, multi-layered aspects to the story and the film. Not all of them work and at times the movie feels a bit disjointed as Hedwig's past is told in choppy flashbacks, but the spirit of the film shines so passionately and so angrily that one can easily overlook its flaws. This can be firmly attributed to the powerhouse performance by Mitchell, who plays the part with heart and soul, and infuses all the eccentricities into the story with complete and utter conviction.

Hedwig is a damaged human being, both physically and emotionally. Time and again her heart has been ripped apart, her art stolen from her, and she has been made a laughing stock. Dolled in enormous blonde wigs, massive heals and enough makeup to make Liberace blush, that pained soul is disguised in a larger than life stage persona. Mitchell handles the intricate balance of camp, outrageous humor and deep pathos very carefully, and he succeeds fully. He is the anchor to the movie, and so he should be. I had the chance to see the stage production after watching the film many times, and was surprised to learn that it is almost a one man/woman show. It makes sense then that the movie should largely be a character study.

The songs are catchy and really awesome. They probably don't rock as hard as they think they do and the music itself is largely simplistic, but it was written for the stage. The lyrics are clever and beautiful, and Mitchell sings them with passion in his alien-sounding voice. If you remember nothing else, you will leave remembering "Origin of Love". What I enjoy so much about the music is that they are not there for filler to show off the talent of the musicians, but that they are a framing device which reveals a singularly unusual biography of a very peculiar character.

This is a loud, colorful film and one of my favorite movie musicals. It works so well at blending the strange and taboo with an entertainment factor and watchability, which is so rare. More than that, there is enough in this movie to rewatch it again and again. I've seen it at least half a dozen times, and in this last viewing I only now believe that I fully understood the ending. That is either the mark of a stupid film blogger, a convoluted narrative, or a very smart movie. I happen to think it was the latter.

3.5/4