Germany’s isolated gays get a hearing

Filmmaker Jochen Hick explores “The World of Rural Queers” in his 2003 documentary featuring interviews with four gay men and their friends, families and neighbors.

Hick draws a rather touching portrait of the men’s isolated lives while sketching current attitudes toward homosexuality in Swabia, a rustic area of southwest Germany.

The men have little in common with those around them but for various reasons have not moved to more inviting urban areas where gay rights are more prevalent. They punctuate their mostly solitary existence with regular trips to locales such as Berlin, Zurich or even Thailand.

Many of the heterosexuals, including Christians protesting at a gay pride parade, claim to not know any gay people. In most cases, their attitudes are driven by ignorance more than hatred. Hick takes a low-key approach in his interviews, optimistically outlining their evolving feelings.

Splashy tale of African intrigue

An award-winning journalist fresh from the battlegrounds of war-torn East- ern Europe finds even more perilous work when he arrives home to his unnamed African country in the sleek Pan African action-drama “Critical Assignment.”

The nation’s president has made a daring announcement to cut his military budget in favor of providing clean water for his people, but not everyone wants the humanitarian effort to succeed. The film is one of the highlights of this year’s Hollywood Black Film Festival.

Michael Power, the hunky icon of international Guinness ads, stars as the scribe, a sort of James Bond of the fourth estate, as he investigates corruption within the government, dodges explosions and woos the defense minister’s beautiful, law-student niece (Thami Ngubeni).

Scripted by Nigerian writer Tunde Babaloa, the film boasts high-end production values and South African director Jason Xenopoulos moves the yarn (a blend of adventure and romance with a side of social commentary) along nicely.

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Screenings

Goethe-Institut

6th Annual Blockbusters Series

* “The World of Rural Queers,” 7 p.m. Tuesday, Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100. (323) 525-3388.

Hollywood Black Film Festival

Selected Screenings

* “Critical Assignment,” 9 p.m. Wednesday, Harmony Gold Preview House, 7655 Sunset Blvd., L.A. (323) 655-TKTS, www.hbff.org.

Screening Room columnist Kevin Thomas is on vacation.