Bierkampf

The Oktoberfest in Munich, or the 'Wies'n', how it is called by locals, takes place every year in the late summer and is said to be the biggest fair in the world. By watching the movie one will soon encounter, that everybody visiting that place just needs some minutes to mutate into a beer-quaffing, song-shouting, sex-searching anybody. Having a historical background in celebrating the Bavarian culture, the Oktoberfest has evolved to just a mega-party of twelve vastly big beer tents with ordinary disco music visited by millions of amazed international guests every time. Such an interesting tension is created, when director and main actor Achternbusch, being a sensitive artist on the one hand and a traditional Bavarian on the other, is thrown in that fun-oriented, superficial setting. Making things easier by being dressed as a policeman Achternbusch goes for it. We can be witness of one of the greatest movie scenes I know, when he runs uncut through a beer tent making some fun with and provoking people you surely could label as drunk and who react sometimes amused as well as quite aggressive. I'd like to say, that it has got something from Tarkovsky. 'Bierkampf' in the whole can be seen as a great artful movie essay about tradition, sexuality, friendship and the sense of celebrating. Highly recommendable.

This movie is located at the "Oktoberfest" (bigbig, legendary and well-known drinking fest for dumb white-bread idiots) in Munich/Germany. A man who is dissatisfied with his senseless existence in his family-life and social status steals the uniform of a policeman and then enters the "Oktoberfest". - Now he is somebody, he is important, he can help, people respect him, etc. His wife, other relatives and some friends start to follow him while he gets some new acquaintances. The craziness begins! Full ahead! You cannot really say what the sense of this movie is, maybe it's about senselessness of life in general and about the relativity of common values. Amateur actors philosophize about this and that - most of them unemotional as a stone. But this doesn't ruin the movie - it's quite the contrary and supports the absurdity of the scenes and texts. There's no real storyline, it's more like a collage of sketches and clips. And it's also funny that you never know if the protagonists are actors who know they play for the movie (but I guess they do not know WHAT KIND of movie this is!!) or if they are just visitors of the Oktoberfest who happen to fall victim to a crazy-genius movie-director by chance, you know, like hidden-camera or something. - You never know. - And sometimes people get really angry by being annoyed by our false policeman out of control - and I am very sure that he'd got some punches in the face without this uniform. Many of the mono- and dialogues are really funny as hell and also quite intelligent in a subtle and subversive meaning. This movie and with it it's director was a total find for me, I must recommend this a lot, 10 out of 10!