Hinterholz 8

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.

Hinterholz 8 is a bad Austrian movie compared to Indien, Muttertag and Freispiel. The actors and actresses are good, but the story is poor. Some dialogs and scenes are really good but there are few. If you expect another movie typical Düringer movie like Muttertag, save your money!

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!

One of the best movies of the year - and the absolute blockbuster in Austria. Except for the end this film is an absolute must-see. I wonder, however, if the subtleties of Austrian can be understood outside the country.....

This movie is probably not expecting the audience only to laugh, but also to think. But many of those, who have seen it, did not realise the serious, very realistic background. I would recommend it to everyone, who is thinking of building/buying a house of their own!!! (Think twice before you do it...)