Hedwig and the Angry Inch (review)

We're very pleased to announce a movie review feature that will now regularly appear in the OCU Gazette. OCU 3rd Grade student Maiko Kakazu has generously offered to oversee the page, and she will also set the ball rolling with a review of the movie Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001).

If you're interested in writing a review of your own, contact Maiko or Chris Valvona.

Enjoy!

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The character of Hedwig is a transsexual who came from Germany. During the Cold War, she went to America with her husband on condition that she become “female” from East Germany. She wanted “Love and Freedom”, but life did not go the way she wanted it to. Her husband left her, and she was left alone in an unknown land. She had only “the Angry Inch” which is the mark of a failed sex change surgery. Then, she remembered her dream of becoming a rock star, so she started singing songs. After that, she met a boy named Tommy who had the same dream. They made songs and fell in love with each other. However, when her secret was known by Tommy, he left her. He became a rock star. She ran after him with her new band “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” in America.

This movie is filled with music and art. The fashion and songs make us associate with David Bowie, while the design and color remind us of Andy Warhol. These made me excited. John Cameron Mitchell played Hedwig and directed this movie. He is very beautiful, so I mistook him for a genuine female. Especially, his songs are great. He can sing anger powerfully, he can sing origin of love beautifully, he can even sing woman’s heart prettily. He makes me empathize with Hedwig.

 “Origin of Love” is a song which was sung by the characters in part of this movie. There are the following lyrics in it.

They had two sets of arms.
They had two sets of legs.
They had two faces peering
Out of one giant head
So they could watch all around them
As they talked; while they read.
And they never knew nothing of love.
It was before the origin of love.

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/hedwigandtheangryinch/originoflove.htm

I think this movie’s theme is “People seek their own half". Lyrics teach me in Origin of Love that humans were originally living as a pair. Now, we are each living alone, but we always seek a partner. So, we are not living alone. Of course, Hedwig's partner is Tommy. This movie asks us what is love, what is freedom, and also what is it to be a human. The movie does not answer these questions, but it makes us think of our own answers instead.

Maiko Kakazu

OCU 3rd Grade