Raspberry Reich

Dir: Bruce LaBruce. 2004. Starring Ulrike S., Paul Gerrits, Susanne Sachsse. English. Smut/Gay Cinema/Comedy.
Raspberry Reich

In Germany in the 1970s, a group of young leftists calling themselves the Rote Armee Fraktion (more commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang) coalesced around their shared opposition to the perceived conservative bias of Germany's post-war government (which included former Nazis) and the right wing media exemplified by Axel Springer's media which opposed the student opposition movement and their goals of fighting racism, sexism, police brutality and imperialism. The RAF trained in Jordan alongside the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and then used their newly acquired techniques to wage violent actions against the German police, U.S. military bases, and the Springer Press before most key members were killed or committed suicide (depending on who you believe).

Raspberry Reich portrays a group of modern leftists, inspired largely by the RAF (as well as the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army) to adopt their radical views. Their leader is a strong-willed woman named Gudrun. To prove their dedication to subverting the patriarchy, she teaches that "heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses" and forces her followers to engage in sex with one another. Gudrun speaks/barks in gayified leftist slogans including commands like "Put your Marxism where your mouth is" and "The revolution is my boyfriend" (the latter of which she tells her former boyfriend when he resists her demands to have sex with another gang member).

The plot is not really central as the film is really primarily porn. But, what there is of it concerns the gang kidnapping the son of a wealthy businessmen with the aim of gaining more notoriety for her gang and demanding the freedom of all accused terrorists. The tone is campy and the acting is uniformly terrible- not surprising given the performers' backgrounds as homosexual prostitutes and porn stars. However, this aspect seems deliberate and in keeping with everything in the film being amazingly over the top. The sex is hardcore, explicit, and often intercut with violent imagery (that is too pornographic to mention here). The final product is ridculous, memorable and zany - working at least as much as satire-of-satire-itself and an homage to radical leftism as it does as porn.

Posted by:
Eric Brightwell
Mar 24, 2008 4:09pm
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