"The Circle" is a Swiss movie from last year and it was the country's official submission to the Academy Awards. However, Stefan Haupt's film did not even manage to make it on the short-list. Fans of the movie will say this is because it's a movie too controversial for the Academy, but lets keep in mind that they are always big on gay-themed films such as "Milk" and very recently "Dallas Buyers Club". In my opinion, the reason is that it is simply not a good film at all. I am actually surprised to see all the honors it got at the Swiss Film prize and several other ceremonies.In my opinion, there is nothing really memorable about these 100 minutes here. Some of the aspects, such as the acting are solid, but just not enough to make up for flaws on other areas. One of these would be Sven Schelker's performance. It was very obvious that he had no acting experienced in film before he made this. Really ridiculous that he got so many honors and a lot of acclaim here as he basically showed us the worst case-scenario of what happens when a Chris Colfer lookalike gives us the poorest man's version trying to copy Jared Leto's and Joel Grey's Academy Award winning performances. Downright horrible. Another problem I had with this film (and with Swiss movies in general) is that the always try to mix documentary elements with acting, usually from 2 different time periods like here and it rarely never works. It takes you completely out of the story in my opinion and I wish they would just decide for one of the two options. So yeah, forget what critics and audiences tell you, "Der Kreis" is not a great movie by any means. Not recommended.

"The Circle" is a biopic unlike any other. It is the story of Ernst and Robi, two gay men who met in 1950's Zurich. Ernst was a teacher and Robi a cabaret artist who performed in drag. They became lovers and are still together today. In the film they are played by Matthias Hungerbuhler, (Ernst), and Sven Schelker, (Robi), but the real Ernst and Robi, now old men, also appear on camera, along with other real-life personalities from the period, talking about themselves and their lives together. They are wonderful people and are an inspiration to us all.Of course, "The Circle" is a biopic of a different kind. The title refers both to the magazine they worked on as well as to the circle of gay men who had to live their lives in secret, not for fear of prosecution, (homosexuality was not illegal in Switzerland), but for fear of how they might be treated by the police and the State which was often just short of what it might have been under the Nazis, and once exposed they risked losing everything, not least their lives. At first the lack of laws prohibiting homosexuality meant that Zurich was something of a haven for gay men, not just from Switzerland, but also from Germany and other neighboring countries, but when homosexuals began to be murdered by rent boys, and the courts worked it so that the killer would become the victim and vice versa, things began to change for the worse.Stefan Haupt's film is a tribute to what was fundamentally a gay rights movement long before anyone coined the phrase, at times funny and often very sad, (not everyone's life had a happy ending), but ultimately hugely uplifting, and it is beautifully made. Indeed, as 'historical' gay films go this is one of the best and it shouldn't be missed.

This is a mix of documentary interviews and recreation of the lives of two gay men growing up in 1950's Switzerland and the magazine that brought them together. Ernst is a mild mannered teacher and he hears of an organisation that is a support structure for people like him – 'confirmed bachelors'. This is Der Kreis or The Circle – it was a publication made in Zurich and had readers worldwide. Ernst meets an enigmatic drag queen in Robi Rapp and falls for him completely.Despite their and the editors efforts to keep on the right side of the Swiss law, things start to unravel after the murder of a closeted musician and then the spotlight is thrown onto the underworld gay scene. The spotlight and media attention paint a world populated by degenerates out to undermine the fabric of society and nothing will be the same again.This is told with actors recreating the pivotal scenes and then with modern day interviews with Ernst and Robi. All of the actors are superb but Sven Schelker playing Robi is just wonderful. It would be easy to glamorise this by saying it is a story of sex, intrigue and murder and to a large extent that would be true. However, at its core it is a story of love, companionship and living a lie in a world fearful of what it has never tried to understand. Watch the run off credits too for some great photographs – this is a must for anyone interested in gay history. In German and a run time of 102 minutes – this is a simply brilliant film.

While there is still a lot of homophobia and a lot of discrimination against gay people in general, this documentary does focus on a magazine that was developed and delivered so that people would not have to expose themselves. Nowadays with Internet and whatnot, it is obviously a lot easier to do that, but it is a true testament to time and will, to see what some people had to go through to reach a certain kind of freedom to express themselves.I hadn't heard of that particular magazine and had no clue what the movie was about, when I watched it at the Festival in Berlin. So while I was surprised by the topic itself, I have to admit, the movie itself is very well done. Nicely shot and edited, with lots of Interviews and people remembering what it was like, it does get you into that mindset ... Watch if you're not "afraid"