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Neurosia Neurosia (1995) – Rosa von Praunheim This is a quirky and frenetic German semi-autobiography cloaked in a cheesy investigative journalist cape … and a low-budget one at that. So, it is well worth the watch. The film tells the life-story of Rosa von Praunheim. Now, anyone who was in Germany in the late 80’s and early 90’s will have heard of Rosa. Anyone involved with AIDS activism anywhere in the same time frame will have heard of Rosa as well. Throw in those who are interested in the gay revolution, cross-dressing, or performance art with an international perspective will also likely be familiar with the name. The term prolific really barely comes close to describing von Praunheim’s lifetime of filmic and artistic expression relating to gay politics, transgender issues, and eventually AIDS. His early work dates back to the 1960’s with his founding of the German gay rights movement. If one chooses to hang each work’s thematic content on a timeline, what is revealed is von Praunheim has created works that are of the moment through which he and his cohorts were living. Initially these were gay rights (noteworthy in that this work pre-dates “Stonewall” in the States), then transgender issues; sexual politics; AIDS; and finally socio-political revolution. The film’s full English title is “Neurosia: 50 Years of Perversion”. As one watches “Neurosia” one is taken aback by how much of this person’s life was captured on film. It is not an actor who looks like the 50 year old Rosa when he was 20, it is Rosa. The documentation extends beyond his films and includes thousands of photographs, home movie footage, news coverage, and television appearances. The film begins with Rosa appearing before a screen to address an audience who is apparently about to see his autobiographical film celebrating his 50th birthday. As he stands arrogantly defying the audience members who openly despise him, he introduces his film with lavish self-congratulatory prose and then is shot. When the realization sets in and the lights are brought up, the body of Rosa is missing. This is the beginning of the movie’s trope of journalistic investigation. As the news reporter, whose expose on flowers is set aside for her to pursue the case of Rosa’s assassination, begins to explore his life we too are “brought up to speed” on the real life of Rosa. Although the concept seems at first hokey at best, the true tongue-in-cheek nature of the script begins to seep in and one can accept the sexy-80’s-outfit clad reporter character as she acts as the thread for the journey. Toward the end of the film, documentary and fiction start to blend and the original premise of an autobiography begins to fade as the timeline approaches the post-assassination point. The key is to play along. Rosa’s work, even the most potent and heart-wrenching political works, was always infused with a wink to the wise and lathering of camp. After all, he/she is/was an infamous cross-dressing politically potent performance artist. The ending won’t be revealed here, but when it comes, the punch-line brings the film into perspective, even through the German show tunes and English subtitles. Of all the moments in the film that make it worth watching there are two. The first shows the infamous pie-in-the-face that Anita Bryant (yes, the Florida Orange Juice spokeswoman for so many of us) got while denouncing homosexuals rights as an abomination at a news conference. This was a pivotal moment in smashing anti-gay rhetoric (at least briefly). The second set of clips involves the time in the early 1990’s when Rosa, frustrated with the lack of AIDS education in Germany, went on television to defend his actions of “outing” dozens of famous German celebrities, politicians, and cultural producers because of their refusal to use their influence to fight AIDS. One must think of this happening in one’s own culture and country to get a sense of the bombshell this must have been. This mocku-mentary (done long before more recent waves of such films) comes off much more interesting than a traditional documentary on Rosa would have been. The satire is bubbling under the surface the whole time but the content is very much real history. The kink/fetish content is across the spectrum and is doled out in various ways, either in the film clips of Rosa’s work, the interviews with those that loved and hated him, and the fictional journalist’s journey. As stated above, play along and you will have a good little chuckle as you learn about an icon of gay, transgender, AIDS, and artistic rights. Note: Rosa von Praunheim is really “Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky”. The “Praunheim” references a suburb of Frankfurt, although he was born in Latvia. The “Rosa” is a reference to the “pink triangle” or “Rosa” that was stitched onto the clothing of gay people who were sent to concentration camps in Hitler’s Germany because of their sexual orientation.  |
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