Mario Kranz

Peter Handke adaptó su propia novela para este film sobre un portero de fútbol que pierde súbitamente la concentración en medio de un partido y es expulsado del juego. Confundido, vaga por la ciudad sin saber dónde ir y termina realizando acciones sin mucha explicación ni sentido.

A man sentenced to death escapes from a military prison and finds shelter with a resistance group that is set to liberate the country. The repressive enemy never sleeps. The escaping condemned man is also no longer the old warrior he once was: he is broken - wonders whether the resistance can put him back together.

Karl Bockerer is a Viennese original. He survives the ‘great times’ – to his own dismay his birthday is on the same day as the one of the “Führer” – by pretending to be more stupid than he really is, and uncovers, over and over again, the hypocrisy and the uptightness of the epic nonsense in his milieu by means of real and phony naivety. Where Schweijk made a mockery of the ruling system by being a presumptive follower, the Viennese butcher strives against the tide. And he is not alone, has family and friends. His personal braveness protects him neither from the rebellion in his own house, nor from the horrors of total war…