The Raspberry Reich (2004) User Reviews (17)

Horray for artsy porn!

[theoctoberist · 6/10 · 11 April 2007]

The Raspberry Reich is about a dominatrix terrorist, Gudrun, her sexual revolution, and her clan, Raspberry Reich. They kidnap the son of a wealthy businessman to get public attention. Pornographic sexual revolution ensues.

The film was, essentially, porn. However, it was porn with a plot, a message, and really awesome music, all captured by a true artist, Bruce LaBruce, rather than some pornographer or big studio blah. Oh, and I would have to say... the porn was well done. I happened to be counter-revolutionary, myself, (if you know what I mean) while watching the movie.

It was funny with lines like, "the revolution is my boyfriend," "cornflakes are counter-revolutionary," that guy who kept jumping and clapping his hands: "shoplifting! shoplifting!" and "pornography! pornography!" and a sequence in which two boyfriends made out with each other right after robbing a bank, like, right outside of the bank... oh, and the sex in the elevator.

I found it ironic and interesting that while Gudrun spoke against oppression, she was, in turn, oppressing her own followers.

The acting was soooooo bad. If only the acting was at least okay, I would have liked it more.

All in all, it was a good movie, if only for the artistic aspect of explicit sex. I think I want to be Bruce LaBruce when I grow up.

I thought Raspberries Used to Taste Good...

[thesar-2 · 1/10 · 21 January 2010]

I'll admit my ignorance on The Raspberry Reich. I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be a comedy, spoof or serious drama. I couldn't tell if it merely had horrible dialogue or just extremely badly dubbed. And I couldn't tell if it was an erotic film or just simple porn.

What I do know is, The Raspberry Reich is a hilariously bad movie. I can absolutely see this movie as a perfect drinking game or movie to watch for a night of laughing at the horror it was.

The five-minute plot stretched incredibly to 90 minutes involves a woman who spews out quotes from various sources in order to develop some kind of "revolution" that (spoiler!) never comes to pass. Yeah, I'll ruin that because, other than a binge night of drinking, there is absolutely no reason to see this porn-disguised-as-propaganda movie.

Part of her (ha ha ha ha) master plan to take over whatever (yeah, that's another aspect that flew past me – the main character, Gudrun's adversary, who whoever that was) is to get her minions – all male comrades, to have sex with each other by stating they shouldn't worry about their anti-revolutionary heterosexuality and make the revolution their boyfriend. (??? – if they were straight (another ha ha ha ha) then wouldn't that be girlfriend?) So…we're to believe these guys are truly straight and I believe it was the director/writer Bruce La Bruce's vision was for us to believe they were not gay, yet they give VERY little resistance to having sex with each other. On the flip side, it's like believing the women in straight porn never "actually want it" and their consistent battle to avoid penetration is "real." Honestly, this movie is a joke, a waste of time. UNLESS…of course, you just want to see porn. My advice is to head over to the adult shoppe because, though there are many explicit sexual scenes (definitively no holds barred) and full frontal male/female scenes, they are interlocked with rancid acting, laughable dialogue, molestation of guns and a whole bunch of the script scrolling on the screen. Yeah, I heard them, and making me read it makes little difference in my opinion on their comical beliefs.

Oh, and switching from color to black & white is about as an art form these days as drawing a circle and teaching a 64-week college course on the depths of the object. SKIP THIS MOVIE.* * - Again, unless you have some kind of party with (either gay or VERY OPEN-MINDED) buddies who want a good laugh.

Bad boy porn

[keith-283 · 3/10 · 19 March 2006]

Oh boy - didactic, revolutionary agit-prop, gay porn and underground anarchic 'chic' of Berlin collide in this ultimately dull and, quite frankly, annoying film. The plot, for what it is, is centred round the plans of the revolutionary bore, Gudrun(a cliché-driven political activist who, throughout, makes proclaimations of, to her, the heroic deeds of the Bader-Meinhof Gang)and her belief that there needs to be a sexual revolution prior to any successful social revolution. But the sexual revolution is for all heterosexuals to experience and accept the 'homosexualist' within.

Cue director/writer Bruce LaBruce's previous experience in gay porn movies. We are 'treated' to a whole series of absurd gay porn encounters (and even worse acting) involving macho terrorists 'forced' (yeah right)into explicit gay sex with colleagues (and their captive - the son of one of the wealthiest capitalists in Germany is kidnapped to further the cause), all in the name of the revolution. The director has self-censored,in part, the more explicit scenes (occasionally humorously, using photographs of world leaders - this certainly adds new meaning to 'giving head').

Use of strobe, abstract patterns, political banners and statements writ large on screen and the constant proclaiming by Gudrun in a monotonous rant attempt to explore socio-political underground themes and create an 'art-house' movie. But it fails miserably. It also fails as a hard-edged porn film for the same reasons!

Political commentary or gay porn?

[vanman · 7/10 · 30 December 2004]

I saw this at a film festival in Philly where it was aptly introduced as "...either political commentary disguised as hard core gay porn, or gay porn disguised as political commentary." As porn...wow. I wasn't quite expecting the explicitness--so if that's what you're looking for, then enjoy. (I must confess that I did.) The actors are all very photogenic and appealing. There definitely was comedy, and perhaps even food for thought, in the political statements made by the over-the-top revolutionary characters. I found it a bit difficult to switch gears, but maybe after repeated watchings I'll be able to do so. Those who are able to view hard core fare from an artistic and/or intellectual point of view will probably be better able to appreciate the film's artsy elements as well.

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz......

[cecchino_the_freak · 2/10 · 25 December 2005]

What a disappointment! I was expecting something wild, something wicked... and all i got is a 90 minutes flick that seems to last an eternity! The plot is so thin and foreseeable that it should have last at most 15 minutes not an hour and a half, come on! The actors are so bad (except the actress who played the hysterical Godrun, the only one who seems to have understand the level of acting required to make this comedy works and be at least a little bit funny); the actors from "Plan 9 from outer space" seem to deserve an Oscar in comparison...well, maybe thats what the director wanted to make them look funny, so the movie could be considered as a comedy. The only good comic scene is at the beginning when Godrun and her boyfriend f*** in the elevator...but again, we got the point, it was funny for the first seconds, but after 5 minutes, it just ruins the idea and gets just plain boring.

As a political satire, well, doesn't work either. The ideas are exposed in such a superficial way, nothing is developed, just a bunch of revolutionary ideas or historical facts thrown in our face, and then repeated on screen, always with the same boring manners: Godrun shouts them with the same voice tone from the beginning to the end, then we see the text in red letters, pink letters, whatever color on screen. Great editing, but the processes get so overused through the whole movie...ZZZzzzz! As entertaining and developed as an oral expose in class in high school. And the link between homosexuality and revolution is so thin, the director seems to think that writing slogans on screen while the actors s*** and f*** is enough to explain the idea...it unfortunately never goes further. We could have had a nice reflexion about it, we get nothing except porn, which is far from being bad in itself, but even as a porn flick its deceiving.

The scenes are so ordinary, so short, just regular porn, far from being as hardcore as it wants us to think it is. Maybe LaBruce thought that as a gay man, i would be turned on by the idea of seeing straight characters make it together, but the actors are so weak, their characters have then no credibility at all, how can i believe for just one second that they are supposedly straight??? My gay radar would make me guess miles away that these guys are gay. LOL In conclusion, great editing, some great music too, but ends up being a badly played wannabe-pseudo-political-porn-comedy. Nothing more than 2 out of 10.

Sex, Satire, Politics, Comedy, Music, Graphics

[rsmolin · 10/10 · 22 July 2005]

I don't believe I've ever seen such a montage of music, pornography, political satire, and humor presented in such fashion as in this bold and astonishing piece of film-making.

I know the average moviegoer would turn away from this movie because of its pounding and raw sexuality, especially homosexual scenes that rival the best of this "art form." But if you have a yearning for experimental film-making, for stunning and shocking action, for a satiric look at terrorism --then you will be rewarded by this astounding work.

Get ready to be annoyed, agitated, repulsed --that's one of the goals of this movie. But I think the film ought to be on the syllabus of every film school because of its utter creativity and audacity. Bravo!

Hilarious! Erotic. Totally tounge-in-cheek.

[derekwillie · 7/10 · 25 March 2004]

It's been a while since I saw this film, so I'll talk about as much as I can remember. I happened to catch this film at the Sundance Film Festival. I knew nothing about the directors status or his past work. I heard from others at the festival that this film was straight up gay porn, which caught my interest. Being gay I'm always interested in seeing films with gay themes. I assumed the people were wrong. To my sexual arousal they were right! Almost...The film was hilarious, glamourizing the idea of "terrorist chic." In the film a group young of virile young men under the leadership of a woman (Gunfrun) kidnap the son of a wealthy man. This is done to draw attention to their group. Gunfrun is also intent on smashing the idea's considered normal. This was part of "the revolution." One of those idea's was heterosexuality. That's where all the talk of gay sex came into the picture. Some of the most erotic gay sex scene's I've ever seen! Partially due to the fact that these men were heterosexual and also due to the fact that I did not expect actual gay sex with penetration and ejaculation. The film began with images of a young man in his room playing with a shot gun, only to eventually end up deep throating it when he hears a straight couple having rough sex next door. I assume this turned him on because he proceeded to gratify himself in the most intimate way. while images of the couple having sex were spliced into the scene at the same time. It was this time when I realized that I was in for a totally different but very hot film. Maybe the film had deep theme's and agenda's, but that just went right out the door due to the amount of gay sex in the film. I don't remember much. I do remember gay sex in the trunk of a car, Gunfrun making her hetero boyfriend have sex with another straight man, more gay sex in a room and a scene that takes place in a terrorist camp with a hilarious dark training session involving an an innocent family. One line that I will never forget took place during a conversation between Gunfrun and her gang. She was talking about "the revolution." Certain idea's were not part of the revolution. When one of her beautiful gang members asks for clarification if certain things (to which I cannot remember which) were part of the revolution. Then as one last thing he asks if corn flakes are part of the revolution. In a stern commanding voice she replies, "CORN FLAKES ARE NOT PART OF THE REVOLUTION!!!" This movie had some wild lines and idea's. This film was not the best film I saw at the festival. It was my favorite though. Everything about this film was over the top and wild. If you love the theme's dealt with in most electroclash music, you'll love this film. The hetero squeamish should avoid the film if graphic gay sex is not your cup of tea. The film in short was a homo-erotic dark comedy involving revolution and change. I just cannot remember it to it's exact nature. Simply do some research into who Bruce LaBruce is and you'll understand what your getting into. Take the film for what it is. To me, that was an entertaining good time.

Complete urdure (and that means sh*te)

[kevbee · 1/10 · 6 January 2006]

It's really sad that the gay community comes to the defense of such an appalling bad movie as Raspberry Reich. This film has no redeeming features. It does have non-event actors; a rubbish script and a truly irritating habit of superimposing quotes from George W and Blair over scenes of graphic intercourse. That doesn't make it a cutting-edge alternative movie. It's just facile and boring. It is quite the worst movie you will see this (and any ) year. Life is just too short and precious to give time to this unmitigated rubbish. And now IMDb want me to write 10 lines minimum about a film which deserves a two word summary. Hey ho.

People left cinema smiling and in a good mood

[mkrjmn · 8/10 · 9 January 2007]

"Raspberry Reich" was very much advertised G e r m a n m o v i e prior to and upon a world-reputable international film festival, and packed viewing venues in full with folks from various walks of life.

I do not know whether co-viewers were already prepared to a degree of a male nudity and simply screening a sexual revolution in making to a couple of hundreds cinema-goers in the heart of a multi-million-dweller town, but I was personally much confused with outbursts of laughing and females' comments following any squeeze of a l i t t l e b r o t h e r on a screen, not speaking more.

This work is a perfect parody on communist (leftist as more usable in modern time writings) propaganda where explicit stupidity of leaders cheating own followers while clinching to a political power and financial gains has grotesquely been disclosed with sex and orgies at any preference available a low budget movie allowed.

Of course, same gender sex is the most powerful tool to allegorize a "revolutionary struggle", where lust for empowering and power over the human being are very similar psychological constituents of actually different activities.

People left cinema smiling and in a good mood, which is the best outcome masterpieces present.

Loved it!

[LucasMann · 7/10 · 18 December 2004]

I really enjoyed this LaBruce film.

I like his stuff anyway but I genuinely found this possibly his best work.

It felt like I was watching a mixture of Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey and Jean Luc Godard mixed in with hardcore porn -with extras laughs.

Yes, it's not perfect (nothing is) but it moves along very quickly (90mins seems a long film for LaBruce I believe).

Make sure you get the Strand Releasing USA Region 0 disc only as it's uncut.

Also, watch the film right to the end of the titles!

The Revolution is my Boyfriend

[rogfier515 · 12 July 2004]

No spoilers, i think

I have to say that I had a good time watching this movie. I saw it on my birthday, it was playing at the University's Doc Films theater. Wednesday was "history of porn" night, so my friends and I decided to go watch. I think you should see the movie as a comedy (with gay sex) and not a funny porno? I cracked up when the phrases would scroll across the screen: "Heterosexuality is the opiate of the masses", "There can't be revolution without a homosexual revolution", and my personal fave "The revolution is my boyfriend." I actually want a t-shirt like the one in the movie. Oh, and Bruce La Bruce was there, and did a little Q&A session.

Marginally less boring than Godard's political pictures

[MOscarbradley · 2/10 · 12 August 2017]

Of all the movies that made up what came to be known as New Queer Cinema Bruce LaBruce's "The Raspberry Reich" is considered to be amongst the most radical. The sex is certainly explicit and it's nicely shot by James Carman though LaBruce's mixture of guns, sex, revolution and extreme left-wing politics is still a difficult pill to swallow. It might have helped if the acting or the script were any good, (they're terrible), but this is just a porn film with better camera-work and editing than most and what LaBruce assumes is a political agenda that will appeal to intellectuals. He shot it in Berlin but it could just as easily have been Budapest or Barking. You could view it as a comedy in bad taste though I doubt if it will make you smile. On the plus side it's marginally less boring than Godard's political pictures which might have benefited from a dose of explicit sex but don't take that as a recommendation.

The Revolution

[PaulLondon · 7/10 · 4 November 2004]

Bruce LaBruce's satirical swipe at terrorist chic is a gleefully irreverent swipe at, well, just about everything. The film combines a porn sensibility (complete with badly dubbed voices) with a high camp transgressiveness that reminded me of early John Waters. Indeed Raspberry Reich seems unsure as to whether it wants to be John Waters or a parody of Marxist Jean Luc Godard.

Like John Waters early work this film has got plenty to offend everyone, but its also pacily directed and witty and boasts a terrific over the top character in Gudrun, the sexual and political revolutionary with ways too many causes.

Strange, but wickedly entertaining

[bliz3 · 10/10 · 2 January 2005]

This is definitely one of the oddest movies I've ever seen, and I loved it! It's certainly not for everyone, but this movie definitely appealed to my rather dark sense of humor. And being gay, the cast was definitely easy on the eyes.

Anyway, I recommend this movie to anyone wanting to see something that is completely different from most everything else out there. But you need to have an open mind to enjoy it. Although the movie was pretty satirical, I also saw a little Fight Club angle to it as well.

On a side note, I have to say that I'm definitely interested in checking out other works by this director now.

A trashy piece of political tripe hype

[ilikeimdb · 7/10 · 4 July 2020]

Director Bruce LaBruce has obviously seen his share of John Waters films and that campy/gross/mockumentry feel continues with the RR's lead female provocateur protagonist playing the Divine role. The film tries to be shocking but ends up mostly silly and titillating and occasionally charming, except, naturally, for the outré sex scenes strewn throughout. The film's a bit of a mind bender using and reusing multi-media techniques, again in a mockumentary way...sometimes preachy but often hitting its revolutionary political spoof targets head on.

Interesting, but not what I was expecting

[twiggy4always · 21 September 2004]

I saw this film at the Toronto International Film Festival, under the impression that it was something else. Having said that, as soon as I stopped being grossed out by the straight, and homosexual sex I found the movie quirky, and funny.

Its zesty comments on the German political scene, and almost avant-guard style add hilarity, to what the Director proclaimed as "soft porn."

Apparently if you've seen the director's other work, this film will come as no surprise.

Anyway from a technical standpoint it was well shot and edited. The film also has these amazing titles that pulsated a vivid red on the screen.

Saving the best for last, this film has these amazing mantras.

THE REVOLUTION IS MY BOYFRIEND!!!!!

This Is Happen When Gay Porn Enter Politic

[Silitonga · 7/10 · 12 November 2013]

I really enjoy almost every Bruce La Bruce film, including this one. He always have different way to tell hidden meaning of chosen themes in his film.

Honestly, I don't really understand what kind of politic was telling here (It's like socialism or communism? Tell me if I'm wrong) but at least I know it's purpose. I have to say that combine politic with gay explicit film somehow really bizarre. But, I found it perfectly matched.

Just other Bruce La Bruce film, "The Raspberry Reich" have gorgeous actors. I really enjoy the sex scenes. Looking hot and I love the teasing part a mask man played with gun while he was masturbating.

The only lack just bad acting. Well, I think almost the actors are porn star and amateur artist. But, if the acting was great, this film would be perfect.