Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a 2001 American musical comedy-drama film written for the screen and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. Based on Mitchell's and Stephen Trask's 1998 stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it accompanies Hedwig Robinson, a gay East German rock singer. Hedwig subsequently develops a relationship with a younger man, Tommy, becoming his mentor and musical collaborator, only to have Tommy steal her music and become a rock star. The film follows Hedwig and her backing band, the Angry Inch, as they shadow Tommy's tour, while exploring Hedwig's past and her forced sex reassignment surgery. Mitchell reprises his role as Hedwig from the original production. Despite largely positive reviews from critics and audiences, the film's limited release only grossed $3.6 million from an estimated $6 million budget. The musical has since developed a devoted cult following. In 2001, the film won the Best Director and Audience Awards at the Sundance Film Festival as well as Best Directorial Debut from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Mitchell received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the Premiere magazine Performance of the Year Award. Plot Hansel Schmidt is a gay, East German teenager who loves rock music and is stuck in East Berlin until he meets Sergeant Luther Robinson, an American soldier. Luther proposes marriage to Hansel, persuading him to have a sex reassignment surgery in order to leave Communist East Germany for the West as his wife, as that was the only legal solution. Hansel's mother, Hedwig, gives her child her name and passport and finds a doctor to perform a genital surgery. The operation is botched, however, leaving Hansel – now Hedwig – with a dysfunctional one-inch mound of flesh between her legs, the titular "Angry Inch".