Hedwig and the Angry Inch

A screen adaptation of a rock musical. Hedwig grew up in East Berlin. To marry an American soldier and get to the West before the wall came down, she has an operation; it goes wrong, and the film's title comes from that. She reaches America, is abandoned, and starts making music. Then she meets a young boy called Tommy. She teaches him to write songs. Tommy becomes famous with those songs and never mentions her name. The film takes place in the present: Hedwig plays small diners with her band and arranges her tour route around Tommy's stadium concerts, performing in the venues right beside them. The source is John Cameron Mitchell's stage musical. Stephen Trask wrote the songs. Mitchell directs and plays Hedwig; he had played the part on stage as well. Some sections of the narrative are given in animation. One of the particular examples of its kind for anyone who likes rock musicals and narratives built on identity. For a viewer expecting a classical musical, the form is scattered and the register keeps changing; the songs also carry the narrative itself.