The Movie:

Switzerland's official selection for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, The Circle deftly mixes drama and documentary to shed some light on the reality of gay life in the '50s. The movie delves into the operation of the Swiss magazine Der Kreis (a.k.a. "The Circle"), an underground prose-and-erotica publication made by and for gay men from 1932 to 1967 - and the enduring relationship that emerged from that far from out-and-proud scene.

The Circle illuminates a part of LGBT history that's often forgotten by today's gay youth. Astonishing as it might be to consider it now, just a generation or two ago being gay meant living in a coded, secret world of passwords, covert meetings, underground parties and the constant fear of being arrested and exposed. In the U.S. and most of Europe, gay and lesbian networks thrived in the big cities, although even in the most liberal of places same-sex attraction was viewed as a psychological defect that needed to be suppressed.

Opening in 1956 Zurich, Switzerland, The Circle dramatizes the hopes harbored by that era's LGBT people, despite their repressed environment. Director and co-screenwriter Stefan Haupt frames the story of influential Swiss gay magazine Der Kreis around two young men brought together by the magazine's underground social circle. Ernst Ostertag (Matthias Hungerbühler) is a shy, uptight literature teacher at a girls' school who is drawn to writing poetry for Der Kreis. Its longtime editor, Rolf (Stefan Witschi), introduces Ernst to other staffers including the caustic Felix (Anatole Taubman) and Gian (Antoine Monot, Jr.), a shaggy-bearded writer. Although a good portion of the film concentrates on the magazine and the difficulty of putting out issues on a regular basis, most of the story highlights the loose social network in Zurich which the magazine helped maintain. Part of that included covert gatherings and parties, which were organized in secret to avoid scrutiny by the police. It's at one such party where Ernst meets and falls for Röbi Rapp (Sven Schelker), a flamboyant young German émigré and the party's entertainment with his female impersonation act. Despite Röbi's already being attached to an older gentleman, he and Ernst have a fling. With Röbi's sense of adventure and fearlessness about being gay complemented by Ernst's solid, intellectual background, the two become more than lovers.

Being gay in the '50s not only meant the threat of being exposed and socially ostracized, it could be deadly as well. The Circle incorporates that aspect with a subplot involving a self-loathing rent boy who goes on a killing spree with victims uncomfortably close to the Der Kreis group. This part was based on an actual Zurich murderer who was eventually arrested and brought to court. To add some perspective to this man's farce of a trial, the real Röbi and Ernst - now an adorable elderly couple in their eighties - are interviewed. Strange as it seems, the current documentary interviews are as well-made as the historic enactments. Röbi and Ernst add a lot of engaging perspective to this story, filling in crucial tidbits on their own lives such as the contrast between Röbi's loving mother (warmly played by Bagdad Café's Marianne Sägebrecht, the character is shown happily sewing dresses for her son's cabaret act) and Ernst's traditional, stick-straight parents. The emphasis on these two men tends to run off the tracks in the film's final half-hour, but it underscores the movie's main point that seemingly innocuous things such as Der Kreis can have a monumental impact on history. Ultimately, it ends up being a positive reaffirmation of the strides LGBT made for visibility in the 20th century.

While it appears that Haupt took some dramatic licence in recounting the rise and downfall of Der Kreis, it's still a fascinating glimpse at an overlooked side of LGBT history, filled with terrific performances. One gets a clear-eyed feel for the struggles Röbi and Ernst went through, and the matter-of-fact pride they have in getting to where they are today.