“THE RASPBERRY REICH”– sex, satire and politics

“The Raspberry Reich”

Sex, Satire and Politics

Amos Lassen

In 2004 Bruce LaBruce made “The Raspberry Reich” and it was way ahead of its time. He gives us political commentary under the guise of hard core porn. I have always admired LaBruce’s work but I had no idea that the sex scenes in this film would be quite so graphic. With that said, let’s have a look at the film. The cast is very good looking in an odd sort of way and there is a good deal of comedy in the film as well as a lot of food for thought. The characters are over-the-top revolutionary and make very strong political statement. It is interesting how porn and politics interweave with so little effort. If you are one of those people who can look at hard core porn artistically and intellectually, you will undoubtedly enjoy this film. It is like a big stew of porn, politics, music, humor and satire in one big stew pot. The result is a very bold piece of film making. It is an outstanding effort in underground film. It annoys, agitates and repulses but it is audacious and creative and should be seen by every serious filmgoer.

“The Raspberry Reich’ glamorizes “terrorist chic”. A group of virile young men under the leadership of a woman kidnap the son of a wealthy man in order to draw attention to the group. The female leader wants to crush any ideas that society at large considers normal, including heterosexuality. Here is where the gay subplot takes over. The young men were heterosexual but to go against the regime they practice homosexuality. It is also here that the graphic sex begins. Unfortunately with the amount of sex going on, the theme of the film was quite lost and everything in the film also went wild and over the top.

If you are squeamish then you should avoid this film by all means. Graphic gay sex abounds in this homo-erotic dark comedy about revolution and change. It is a near perfect parody on communist propaganda where explicitly stupid leaders cheat their own followers while they clinch political power ad financial gain. Homosexuality is a powerful tool to se to allegorize a revolutionary struggle especially where lust for overpowering the human is a part. But more important is that LaBruce satirizes just about everything in this film. Somewhat reminding me of early John Waters, this movie has something to offend everyone.