The Raspberry Reich -2004- Direct

For those who have only heard whispers of the title, The Raspberry Reich is a film that defies easy categorization. Is it a gay porn film with a thesis? Is it a political thriller with explicit sex? Or is it a high-concept comedy about the failure of the European hard-left? The answer, as LaBruce would likely argue, is yes. Officially, the plot of The Raspberry Reich is a send-up of the Red Army Faction (RAF), the militant West German far-left group active during the 1970s and 80s. The film opens with a group of urban guerrillas hiding out in a sterile, modernist apartment. Their mission? To overthrow capitalism, destroy the nuclear family, and specifically, to eradicate "heterosexual bourgeois monogamy."

According to Bruce LaBruce, the answer is simple. We would argue about Theodor Adorno, try on fetish gear, and then laugh at the absurdity of it all. The Raspberry Reich -2004-

Many younger viewers today, raised on sanitized, corporate-friendly LGBTQ+ representation (think Heartstopper or Love, Simon ), find The Raspberry Reich deeply disturbing or offensive. It refuses to be respectable. It refuses to ask for tolerance. It demands revolution through deviance. In a 2023 interview, LaBruce reflected on the film’s longevity: "People ask me if I was trying to make a porn film or a political film. I was trying to make a comedy. It’s funny to think that a revolution—or an orgasm—will save you. Neither will. But they’re both good for about 90 minutes of entertainment." For those who have only heard whispers of