AllMovie

The title for this documentary, Desire: Sexuality In Germany 1910-1945, adequately describes what it is about. What it doesn't do is clarify why the subject is of immediate interest to those living in the present, as well as being something to pique the interest of history buffs. There were a number of sexual movements in Germany in the period before World War Two; some of them were in stark contrast to the infamous trends which produced Nazism. Others, in a perverted form, contributed to the culture of that movement. Contrast came in the form of the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin, which proposed that homosexuality was a natural, biological phenomenon, and that it should not be persecuted. The documentary interviews gay survivors of the persecutions of the Nazis, and they recount their experiences. Some ironic contrast to these stories is provided by images from official Nazi propaganda art, which was profoundly homoerotic. On another front, considering ideas that were not completely rejected by the Nazis, is a review of "naturism," whose proponents thought civilization was decadent, and that traipsing naked in the woods was inherently healthy. The documentary has some hilarious footage from the period illustrating the activities of those preoccupied with these ideas. The documentary also traces the aftermath of these and related movements from World War II to the present, closing with scenes from the Amsterdam memorial for homosexuals who were killed during the holocaust.