Hinterland

Worth seeing historical thriller about the time shortly after the First World War! The world is out of joint in "HITLERs WIEN / Hitler's Vienna" (see the book of the same name by Brigitte Hamann). ACADEMY AWARD winner Stefan RUZOWITZKY ( DIE FÄLSCHER ) has made a brilliant film whose special style is reminiscent of the great Eric Rohmer film "La Anglaise et le Duc / Die Lady und der Herzog / The Lady and the Duke".

Murathan MUSLU plays a war returnee who returns to Vienna almost broken. A crazy series of murders soon begins, leading inexorably into the bowels of post-war VIENNA. Liv Lisa FRIES (BABYLON BERLIN), Aaron FRIESZ, EUROPEAN FILM AWARD nominee Margarethe TIESEL (PARADIES: LIEBE and DER GOLDENE HANDSCHUH) and the new global star Matthias SCHWEIGHÖFER impress in other roles. You won't see such a blast from German-speaking countries. It's a shame that only 10,000 tickets were sold at the German box office.

Yes the background can be annoying - I have to point that out. Although I think I am pointing out the obvious. Something everyone can see - no pun intended. But something that hopefully won't bug you too much. Not sure if there was another (cheaper solution) to this, but the movie does concentrate on the ... story and the characters it has. Which is a good thing and should be the thing you should look forward to the most.

That said, the actors really deliver here. Even someone like Matthias Schweighöfer or anyone else who has a small (insignificant or not) role or a bigger one. This is a murder mystery ... one where our hero seems to have something hidden himself. Or something that haunts him from the past ... and not just the fact that he was in a war. The ghosts that haunt him from that are big too of course.

There is enough to sink your teeth in and relish in where the story takes us. You can't be squeamish though, because there are some scenes that can be called borderline and quite violent. But it is the nature of the movie and our main bad guy ... tough case to crack. A Sherlock Holmes would be a nice thing to have - but maybe the former police man is able to find the culprit too ... you have to watch to see! And also if his journey is ... well let's call it complete.

Hinterland is a great movie. You feel like you are watching a comic book.. The dialogues are great and the ambiance is awesome. Perg is an antihero that is why it is quite exciting to watch his life after his return from the prison camp. Murathan Muslu is a great actor. Liv Lisa Fries has been a favorite ever since I watched Babylon Berlin and she was awesome in this movie as well. Stefan Ruzowitzky must make TV series based on Perg and crimes in Vienna. Perhaps adding some flashbacks from the great war. I believe that a TV series based on Perg can be a great series like Babylon Berlin. There is a lot story to tell about him. In short, watch this movie !

First off the visuals are remarkable. Yellowish colour tone used for daytime scenes adds a comic book like character and has a gloomy nature at the same time. This goldy skies and the gloomy buzzing streets of the post-war Vienna is shown as a beast waiting to swallow the defeated soul of Perg. More than just a murder mystery Hinterland succeed in becoming a commentary on the society that any soldier is forced to encounter and the unjust treatments in society. Chilling and graphic imagery adding some edge to the movie. Great performances by the cast with a lot of solid personalities. A movie with a freshness to it that's easily make it worth watching.

A POW and his comrades return home to defeated and depraved Vienna immediately at the end of World War I. Everything has changed, and for the worse, in his eyes.

Since Expressionism was still big by 1918, the movie's skylines and buildings are deliberately distorted to reflect the feelings of the protagonist. It's ugly and a bit distracting, but for me, it worked. It was one of the more original and interesting things about the movie.

The main plot line revolves around the hunt for a sadistic serial killer, but this was neither particularly interesting nor credible. It was no worse than in many movies, but no better.

The main actor is big and very charismatic, dominating every scene. I hope we see more of him.

Questions remain. If they were POWs on the Russian front, wouldn't they have been home sooner, after the Bolsheviks made a separate peace with Germany? And why is a movie set entirely in Vienna called 'Hinterland'?