Description

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's first film to be invited to the Cannes and New York Film Festivals, "Pioneers in Ingolstadt" is the story of a group of young German recruits whose assignment is to build a wooden bridge in the town of Ingolstadt. They seek relief from their boredom with alcohol, acts of brutality and sexual escapades with the local women. Alma (Irm Hermann) and her friend Berta (Hanna Schygulla) welcome the excitement that the new arrivals bring to their lives, but while Alma picks up passing soldiers, Berta searches for true love. Heavily influenced by the theater of Bertolt Brecht and the Hollywood melodrama of Douglas Sirk, the film alternates between perverse comedy and melancholy. "Pioneers in Ingolstadt" announced the arrival of a fierce new cinematic talent, a talent that the New York Times' Vincent Canby dubbed the most original since Jean-Luc Godard. ... Read more

Description

He's been called everything from a petty tyrant to the last greatfilmmaker of the 20th century. In little more than a decade, RainerWerner Fassbinder created an amazing legacy of 43 films and, by hisdeath at the age of 37, had destroyed boundaries, redefined genres, andchanged the course of world cinema. The lush widescreen western "Whity"(1970, 95 min.), winner of two German Oscars, centers on a slave whobecomes the obsession of a demented family intent on disposing of oneanother. Presented in a beautifully restored anamorphic 2.35:1widescreen transfer. "Pioneers in Ingolstadt" (1970, 87 min.),Fassbinder's first film to be invited to the Cannes and New York FilmFestivals, alternates between perverse comedy and melancholy as a groupof young German recruits building a wooden bridge in the town ofIngolstadt seeks relief from their boredom with alcohol, acts ofbrutality, and sexual escapades. A fierce cinematic talent, Fassbinderwas hailed at the time by Vincent Canby as the most original filmmaker since Jean-LucGodard. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's seventh feature is a widescreen mix ofhothouse southern gothic melodrama and edgy spaghetti western in sunbaked color.Whity (Günther Kaufmann, a longtime Fassbinder regular), the obedientfamily butler, is the illegitimate mulatto son of sadistic, bullwhip-wieldingpatriarch Ben Nicholson (American B-movie actor Ron Randell). The ghoulishNicholson family members include a nymphomaniacal young wife and a brutal,homosexual eldest son (coproducer and future director Ulli Lommell) who abuse yet secretly love Whity, and a developmentally disabled youngest son whomWhity protects from the others like a brother. It's a grotesque portrait even for Fassbinder, who cakes the Nicholson family faces with gray makeup--they look and at times act like dead-eyed zombies--and sets them plotting against each other. Hannah Schygulla costars as a saloon singer who warbles Kurt Weill-like tunes, and Fassbinder himself plays a gambler whowhips Whity for fun. It was Fassbinder's first feature abroad--he shot it on Sergio Leone's western sets in Almeria, Spain--and the first of many collaborations with Michael Ballhaus. The behind-the-scenes drama was so eventful that it inspired Beware of a Holy Whore only months later. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Description

He's been called everything from a petty tyrant to the last great filmmaker of the 20th century. In little more than a decade, Rainer Werner Fassbinder created an amazing legacy of 43 films and, by his death at the age of 37, had destroyed boundaries, redefined genres, and changed the course of world cinema. The lush widescreen western "Whity" (1970, 95 min.), winner of two German Oscars, centers on a slave who becomes the obsession of a demented family intent on disposing of one another. Presented in a beautifully restored anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer. "Pioneers in Ingolstadt" (1970, 87 min.), Fassbinder's first film to be invited to the Cannes and New York Film Festivals, alternates between perverse comedy and melancholy as a group of young German recruits building a wooden bridge in the town of Ingolstadt seeks relief from their boredom with alcohol, acts of brutality, and sexual escapades. A fierce cinematic talent, Fassbinder was hailed at the time by Vincent Canby as the most original filmmaker since Jean-Luc Godard. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Exquisite Fassbinder demands repeat viewings
This film requires concentration and repeat viewings. Fassbinder employs exceedingly long takes and a relatively still camera to portray a man slowly being led to the end of his tether.

Herr R (Kurt Raab, a Fassbinder regular) is everyman. Indeed, each scene conveys the sheer drabness of his daily routine. Work, wife, in-laws. None of it registers. Despite the perfect middle class life--emotionally, he's stone. It has been said that he is invisible in this film. Certainly, he is not seen as something particularly dynamic or magnetic. He doesn't attract people, none of his co-workers seem interested in him personally. Likewise, he doesn't seem interested in them.

But he does feel. He's passionate about music, sings a gorgeous, heartbreaking ballad that causes him to sigh slightly and look even more wan and dejected than usual. His wife bores him, her friends irritate him. Work is a release of sorts, but he's not making any progress there. He tries to impress the right people but he ends up making a total ass of himself.

All of these factors lead him on a particular course. Hence, the title of the film. The key to answering it is careful, patient viewing. This is a brilliant example of building up evidence to support myriad theses about the motivations of a fundamental character. Just be focusing on Herr Raab's face provides essential clues as to the forces that drive him towards his destiny. Great film.

mesmerizing
This is a film that should not be too thouroughly explained prior to watching. Mostly it is a series of the every day happenings in the life of Herr R, a reticent underachiever. He is the child of a certain spiritless bourgeois existence. We watch him at his job, not quite making points with the boss, not quite winning the favour of his coworkers. We watch him try to teach his average, but slightly dreamy, son to pronounce properly. We watch his wife hosting the self-absord and catty neighbors to tea. In short, we watch an unextraordinary bit of an unextraordinary life, which is somehow familiar and for some reason completely entrancing. As one watches it can't helped but be asked why wouldn't Herr R run amok?

a fine film
A kind of documentary of madness, with the madness coming late in the film. Or is the madness everywhere? Disturbing, provacotive, if you have the patience and courage to find out, why does Herr R. run amok? ... Read more