Trujillo - Even within the victimized, there are victimizers.

A traveling exhibit by the U.S Holocaust memorial exhibit

We are members of the human race. A race that is known throughout history as one that destroys their own in petty wars and jealous rages. A race where men victimize each other.

The film Bent shows the story of a particular man, Max, who begins his story being a victimizer. He sleeps with men and women left and right, playing with the emotions of especially his young dancer friend and roommate Rudy, who he seems to have some sort of a relationship with. Very quickly, as the film progresses, we see the horrible turn of events, where Max and Rudy are persecuted for being gay.

I believe that the point in which Max truly became a victim in the film is when he was forced to deny his friendship with Rudy and when he was forced to beat him. Here, the most basic animalistic tendency showed... the want and need of survival. Here, compassion was taken away and replaced with mind altering fear.

It was interesting to see the humanity of the victimizers (mainly the SS guards) in this film. It was interesting to see that while they still tortured these men and women, they were human too. They needed water to cool down and could fail a few times trying to light a cigarette. They played like children in the snow and drank and had fun. They did all these things with the victims in the concentration and work camps suffering and dying in front of them. They had already lost sight of the humanity of the people in front of them.

Unfortunately, you see Max revert to his ways as the victimizer as he forces Horst to join his work, a job that clearly drove Horst mad much sooner than it did Max, a job that Horst obviously never wanted to have. A job that forces Horst to fall in love with a man that can't love back. Even within the victimized, there are vicimizers.

Good, a play about a man who decided to join the Nazi party to advance his career, portrays the main character as the victimizer. What other title would joining the Nazi party give you, his advancements on euthanasia helping the party annihilate millions of lives? But my, aren't we quick to judge. Couldn't one argue that Halder, the protagonist, was a victim of a movement? Not really given much of an option?