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John Cameron Mitchell as transsexual rocker Hedwig performs a number for restaurant patrons in the new musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." The film is in theaters Friday.

Wednesday August 29, 2001 |

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Grade: A

Earlier this summer, audiences were introduced to "Moulin Rouge," and they subsequently didn't know what to do with it. It sounded a lot like a musical, but it sure as hell didn't look like one. With its anachronistic music sampling (i.e. Madonna in turn-of-the-century Paris) and visual excess, we were left to wonder whether the musical would ever be the same.

With the release of Sundance-favorite "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," in theaters Friday, the musical may seem like it's back to its old tricks, but there's more going on in this gender-bending, genre-crossing rockfest. Originally an off-Broadway show running from 1998-2000, "Hedwig" follows its title character, portrayed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also directed the film, from his humble and abusive childhood in Communist East Berlin - though the film does steer clear of melodrama in these opening sequences, as in the rest of the film; Hedwig's hardships are portrayed with a commendably subtle touch - to his present days in a Kansas trailer park (not-too-subtle Dorothy reference) and the big lights of the big city of New York.

In order to emigrate from Berlin with his American GI beau, Hedwig must "leave a little something behind." He undergoes a botched sex change operation, leaving him with - to quote one of the film's post-punk, neo-glam rock songs - "Six inches forward, five inches back, I've got an angry inch."

Left by his American sugar daddy, Hedwig watches the fall of the Berlin Wall on television and resolves to embrace his collapsed gender borders with the collapse of that political border - he dons a whole lot of makeup and Farrah Fawcett wig and forms a rock band called The Angry Inch.

Hedwig's rebirth is only one of the many instances of redemption that pervade the film. His struggle for this redemption, for freedom of artistic expression, and more notably, for love - for his other half - endears him to audiences who often are not so receptive to transsexual lead characters. I'm not going to expound on how there is finally a film that doesn't tokenize transsexual/transgendered characters, et cetera et cetera. "Hedwig" is beyond such commonplace praises; it's beyond Hedwig's gender status. The film smartly addresses questions of gender identity (Hedwig's lead guitarist, for instance, is a man but is played by actress Miriam Shor), the nature of love and surpassing oppression that can destroy an individual both physically and mentally - and it does it all with a killer soundtrack and some cool-ass visuals.

As can be expected from a musical inspired by glam rock, "Hedwig" features some outrageous costumes and makeup, and the animation sequences that accompany many of the film's songs deftly impart Hedwig's ability to recreate himself and his world.

And speaking of Hedwig, John Cameron Mitchell, who revives his performance from the stage play, completely loses himself into the role. Mitchell manages not only to call upon the audience's sympathy for the oft-ruined rocker-in-drag but also admiration for Hedwig's strength and resolve of purpose in the face of incredible adversity. Hedwig nearly literally undergoes a death and rebirth onscreen, and Mitchell deftly brings us from each extreme without ever falling out of our favor.

"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is not "Moulin Rouge," and it's the better for it. "Moulin Rouge" may have shown us the joys of excess that musicals often embody, but "Hedwig" reminds us that they can also have a soul.