Hedwig was a young boy trying to escape to America. He met a soldier who would bring him, if he would only get a sex change and be his wife. Unfortunately, the sex change is botched. Hedwig remains in America and becomes a performer, singing songs about his upbringing, and living with his gender confusion.
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The review of this Movie prepared by Darcy Nichols
This crazy 2000 rock musical, based on an Off-Broadway hit, concerns the story of a transvestite singer who seeks revenge on a former protege and lover who stole all his/her music and became a megastar while our hero(ine) languishes in "Bilgewater's" bars and restaurants. Hedwig, the son of a US soldier and East German blonde, was born the year the Berlin Wall went up (1961), grew up in such a tiny apartment that he had to play in the oven, escaped West Germany by marrying a black American GI (which necessitated an operation -- botched -- that left him with that "angry inch" of flesh "down there"), and found himself stranded in the Midwest. Hedwig seduced and mentored a young boy, renamed him Tommy Gnosis, and watched Tommy become a superstar with their songs. This hilarious, rowdy, yet strangely moving film -- sort of a cross between "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (tons of innuendo, but virtually no on-screen baring of breasts or genitals) -- won Audience and Director's awards at the Sundance Film Festival. With all the attention writer, director, and star Mitchell gets for a deservedly memorable performance, one may overlook the fact that the band's ostensibly male guitarist, "Yitzhak," is ably portrayed by actress Miriam Shor. (There's a brief cameo by Rosie O'Donnell, too.) An inspiring laugh riot that is both send-up and tribute to glam-rock.
The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
