Great Freedom

Great Freedom (Große Freiheit) is a 2021 drama film directed by Sebastian Meise. In June 2021, the film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, the film won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section. It won the Golden Giraldillo at the Seville European Film Festival. It was selected as the Austrian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, and on 22 December 2021, it was shortlisted for the award ceremony.

The film was released theatrically on 18 November 2021 in Germany by Piffl Medien and the following day in Austria by Filmladen Filmverleih.

Plot
In post-World War II West Germany, Hans is imprisoned by the post war government having previously been imprisoned in a concentration camp for infringing the Nazi anti-gay laws, which are still on the statute. Hans develops a relationship with his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer.

Cast

 * Franz Rogowski as Hans Hoffmann
 * Georg Friedrich as Viktor Kohl
 * Anton von Lucke as Leo
 * Thomas Prenn as Oskar

Critical reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 60 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With intelligence and sensitivity, Great Freedom draws on past injustices to present a beautifully crafted tribute to the persistence of the human spirit" On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".