Enemies and adversaries, they'll try and tear her down!

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2004)

This is an *amazing* movie. Quite simply amazing.
I'm a total music geek, I can find faults with almost any music you throw my way. My favorite rock operas include Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway," Kevin Gilbert's "The Shaming of the True"... And the newest addition to the list -- "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
That's right, you heard right, I'm calling it a rock opera. This quite simply ain't no musical. And 2 minutes into this, before they were done with the first song, I already knew I had to get a copy of the soundtrack. And I did the next day.
I've also gotten a hold of the original cast recording, and there's an album of covers of the songs by various 3d party artists called "Wig in a Box" that I've also gotten and I've been listening to all three obsessively.
There's just something *about* watching a tall and fairly good looking transsexual with hairy armpits and quite possibly the worst blond wig I've ever seen sing some amazingly good 70's style arena glam rock... In the middle of a divey restaurant, with a bunch of old, balding people who look like they belong in a Florida retirement community trying really hard to ignore the music, complaining to their waitress and then finally standing up to leave...
In one scene, the band is almost entirely hidden behind the restaurant's salad bar.
But none of this manages to tear Hedwig down -- the amazing quality of the music, the performance... Does not at any point suffer from the attitude of the unreceptive listeners. Almost as if she *knows* that the viewers at home are loving it... So WHO CARES about the more immediate audience.
And the story? This story is inspirational, thoughtful, sensitive, beautiful... Aside from the fact that it's very, very strange and prides itself on being so. Even if there isn't an element of the gender bending lifestyle in your life... As long as you have reasonably good taste in music -- as long as your immediate response to the question "Ziggy played... what?" is something like "Guitar, of course! And gosh, was that ever a good song!" -- you will enjoy this movie.
And if there *is* an element of gender bending to your lifestyle... This is practically a must watch.