Hedwig and the Angry Inch tells the story of “internationally ignored” rocker Hedwig, born a boy named Hansel, of a strict German mother and molesting American G.I. father, and forced to grow up in communist controlled East Berlin back when the wall was still standing. She’s still mentally scarred by the one-inch mound of flesh left over from a botched sex change operation she reluctantly accepted in order to marry an American G.I. and cross the Berlin Wall to freedom.

      After a divorce that’s left her stranded in a trailer park in Kansas, she’s now the witty lead singer of a Slavic-immigrant band Hedwig and the Angry Inch, forced to play gigs in front of bewildered diners at buffet joints and trashy bars in the Midwest, while their ex-band-member Tommy Gnosis is sitting at the top of the music charts singing songs originally written and sung by Hedwig.

      Weaving in a collection of remarkably rich stories about her sordid love affairs and tragic life mishaps with a wonderful rock soundtrack, the film works remarkably well in the medium. Mitchell mixes in entertaining little animated sequences into the film’s narrative, and the dark, sometimes jarring humor is a perfect complement to the occasionally sobering tale. The brilliance of Hedwig and the Angry Inch is its ability to take outrageous characters and tales and draw in that common line with its audience. Like the film’s wonderfully poignant song “The Origins of Love,” Hedwig is a walking metaphor for the search for love, and finding your other half. And that’s probably the most beautiful thing about the film: you’ll have nothing in common, yet everything in common with Hedwig.

Stephen Wong, 2001