Bandits

I enjoyed this movie more than most of the American movies I've seen in the past year. It's also different from any other movies I've ever seen. The acting is great, and all of the characters are interesting...plus, I have to get the soundtrack. It's hard to find movies that are this original and entertaining.

There have been many movies about people escaping from jail, but few (maybe none) are like "Bandits". It focuses on a group of disgruntled young women in a German prison. When they get a chance to play outside the prison, they naturally use that chance to escape. But that's where the movie takes a surprise turn. The become the most popular band in the country.

It's a really funny movie (yes, the Germans can be funny). I particularly liked some of the things that they said while packing airplane utensils, and just the way that one of the women had a sarcastic attitude and chose to go around bending the rules just a little. A modern classic.

Telling of a rock group of four imprisoned females who escape and enjoy overnight commercial musical success because of their notoriety, "Bandits" is not of the sexsational genre of B-flicks about women in prison commonplace in America. Instead it is a stylish, artfully shot sort of quasi-musical-drama-rock-video out of Germany with verve, solid music, a creative story, and a captivating screenplay. "Bandits", which received high marks from critics and viewers, is just real enough to get involved with while being just unreal enough to make rooting for the escapees easily rationalized. Love the ending. Worth a look for those into "girl power" and rock music.

I just couldn't leave the last comment to this movie as it was. I haven't seen the English dubbed version, so this might be a reason why you got such a bad impression of the movie. Having seen the original German version, I must disagree. It's not MTV 'fodder' and the characters are not stereotypical. Actually, the movie leaves a lot in the dark about the character, things you have to think about yourself when watching it. If this was 'overexplained' in the English version to make it easier for the audience, it's not the fault of the director or the plot. It IS an awfully good movie, but seeing the bad critics it got from the English speaking part, I'd advise you to watch the German version.

While watching movies about music or musicians, I often sympathize with these poor bastards of actors: The script requires them to play - say - a guitar, but they obviously have no clue as to how to even hold this instrument. And then the singing voice sounds so suspiciously different from the one they talk with...

In this respect, 'Bandits' is a welcome surprise: Obviously, these actresses know far more than just the pure basics of their instruments and deliver a convincing performance as a rock band. And sitting through to the end of the credits reveals that they not only did their own singing, but wrote the major part of the music and lyrics by themselves, most notably "Luna" Jasmin Tabatabai.

For me, the great music more than compensates for the rather fantastic, sometimes clichéd plot with some minor holes. All in all, a remarkable movie!