Max (Clive Owen), a promiscuous shirtlifter within 1930s Berlin, is at odds with his flush personal because of his gayness. A single evening, great deal to the rancor of his young man Rudy (Brian Webber), he brings house the handsome SA human. Alas, Hitler has just decided for obviate the SA, which was noted for the equivalent-sex inclinations among its ranks. A SA human is found & flushed by SS men in Max & Rudy's flat & them keep close at hand to flee Berlin.

Max's uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen), who is as well gay, however inhabits the further discreet life by owning rent boys to satisfy his desires, has unionized fresh papers for Max, however Max doesn't obviously leave his naïve young man behind. Max & Rudy come noticed & arrested per Gestapo and put on the train headed for the Dachau concentration camp.

On the train, Rudy is beaten to dying per guards (for wearing glasses, which interestingly, the select few of the Nazi officers clean also) & Max has to have sex a dead girl to prove he occurs as Jew, as opposed to the gay. His motivation for this treat is that he believes survival in the camp is more leisurely for him in case he doesn't belong to the lowest-regarded (i personally.e., a pink triangle-wearing) group of inmates.

In the camp, Max makes friends by having Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who shows him a dignity that lies around acknowledging what of these is. Fallowing Horst is shot by campy guards, Max with pride assumed Horst's jacket by owning a pinkish triangle & commits suicide by throwing himself against a electric fence.

Bent occurs as reminder that gayness universally diarrhea across completely classes of society & that it would exist as wrong to alone assign a role of people to the homo of that instance. When several gay population world health organization were as well unfortunate (prefer Horst) or even even even as well naïve (prefer Rudy) ended higher around concentration camps, others utilized their money (rather Uncle Freddie) or their power (such as a concentration camp commander or a bit of of the Nazi officers) to stay away from harm's way.

Max occupies the middle spot in that spectrum between trend lines & collaboration, when at the start he is bent on surviving againstCompletely odds & possibly down the road possibly escaping a camp, however in the period of the play / moving-picture show he undergoes a transition because of Horst's influence & understands a single can't universally vary of these's luck it sheer self-control.