Hinterholz 8

Whoever is capable of the Austrian version of the German language (dialect) should watch this great comedy! I have laughed tears!!!

That's not your typical Austrian comedy (which usually centers on wordplay and/or absurd humour); here the jokes are simple, brutal, sometimes bloody, and most times somebody gets hurt, in spirit if not bodily. It's a nice deviation from the otherwise comparatively safe and unobtrusive world of Austrian TV/cinema co-productions. And while the story goes completely over-the-top (albeit in a foreseeable way), the fact remains that at its heart it's a "true" story in that there really are a lot of families going bankrupt or breaking up while trying for the "Austrian dream", meaning a luxury detached, surrounded by hedges, with a double garage, possibly in the open countryside.

Having lived there for a while, this movie is a very accurate portrayal of the typical Austrian (yes, I know it's a generalization - there are always exceptions). For me, this movie is both a comedy as well as a critical look at the problems in Austria:

* Xenophobia - shown in the condesendence shown towards the illegal immigrant worker. This is absolutely common in Austria. * Male chauvinism - Austria still is a very conservative society when it comes to roles of males and females and who "has the pants on". * Corruption - so called "Freunderlwirtschaft"; it is not untypical in Austria to circumvent fair competition for jobs, rights of passing on apartments, etc. by preferential treatment and doing "under the table"-deals. Also, every little village in Austria seems to have their own mayor and again, there's a lot of wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes. * Parochialism ("kleinkariert") - for many Austrians, the most exotic holiday would be to go to Italy (or Mallorca, as mentioned in the movie) and end up lazing on a beach and ordering "Wiener Schnitzel" instead of local cuisine. People like the one woman who has lived all her life in the same small village and hasn't even been up the hill does exist!

Many other little things, little bits of the language, the pathetic obsession with "Schrebergarten", the reaction of the village folk to a "Wiener", round out the movie's attention to detail.

So, in summary, it's both a comedy as well as tragic in a way, but certainly well made and in particular very authentically acted! Not sure what to make of the ending, though, because up to that point, it was utterly realistic.

Apparently, there is a germanized version of it - if you can manage to understand a Viennese accent, definitely go for the original Austrian one!

Hinterholz 8 is one of the best austrian movies I've ever seen, even better than "Indien" or "Freispiel". Roland Düringer and all other actors, mostly comedists, acted at their best. A great screenplay and some really funny scenes ("Made in Japan, destroyed in Sulz im Wienerwald") made this movie adorable.

DÜRINGER's film makes an excellent introduction to Austrian film. It isn't the greatest movie ever made, but it is just offbeat enough to overcome most of its problems. The movie's ending, which is one of the most original I've ever seen, is alone worth watching.