I'm confused as to why the police would have a scheduled raid on a gay bar in contemporary Germany. Germany seems to have a positive stance on LGBT rights. I searched for raids and see a notable one in 1996, but nothing cited recently, so I'm confused.
If anything, I would expect Kay to have been caught holding and thus in trouble for possession rather than simply being in a gay bar. Love Max Riemelt in this and in Sens8, such a dynamic presence.
It was a raid looking for drugs rather than anti-gay raiding.
Kay wanted to be found in it, quite deliberately.
Watch the movie again and you'll understand better why.
I understood Kay's motive, he wanted to be picked up in the raid so he would be outed to his squad and force Marc's hand, telegraphed clearly. However, I still question the likelihood of the raid. The squad didn't mention the raid's purpose or the results in the scope of a drug sting, only that Kay was caught. Speaking of which, wouldn't Kay and Marc, for that matter, undergo drug testing if drug sales and usage were so critical?
In a film that felt emotionally true, the raid simply felt off to me.
I agree. This part of the film has been discussed by others on earlier threads and while some theories behind it sort of make sense, it felt off to me as well.
shareInteresting there are so many different perceptions of the bar raid. I agree that it was probably a raid on drugs rather than on gays. It didn't feel off to me though.
Germany is progressive overall but the story didn't take place somewhere like Berlin. It was a town outside of any big cities; somewhere a bit more behind the times. I'm from the States and although some might consider us progressive, politically as far as gay rights (not trans yet though), on the ground level things aren't quite so progressive. People find ways to be prejudiced through surreptitious means. Just look at the stronghold right wing conservatives have on our country still. It'd be all to easy for the States to take a huge step backward in terms of progress made.
I agree that the act of intentionally being in the bar for the raid was very deliberate on Kay's part. I didn't see it as a way to out himself, necessarily, or to force Marc's hand. Marc said it was over and Kay clearly respected his wishes. Didn't mean Kay wasn't upset about it though. I saw the purpose of the raid as two-fold.
Kay wanted Marc to know he was upset. Maybe even, on a smaller level, to show Marc he didn't need him. That he could go out and do whatever the hell he liked. Have a good time without him. Of course Limpinski brought up that it was a gay bar but that's the character. Frank mentioned that Kay was found heavily intoxicated, which was the emphasized and more important point made.
The other purpose the bar raid served, and why Kay did it deliberately, was that he was taking a stand. Whether it was to do with being gay, or drugs (avid pot smoker after all), or both. Remember that Marc asked how someone like Kay ended up a cop. Even jokingly teased him for being a sort of anarchist ("autonomer"). That was another important point made early on to explain some of the character's behavior (pot smoking, E taking, sexual activity in a public toilet, etc.) despite being a cop.
We don't know if Kay was sanctioned for possession or if it was let slide due to that he was a cop. It may or may not have been his first offense. Although anyone with a record of offenses probably wouldn't have been made a cop to begin with. Most likely he was just never caught before then.