Niemandsland

A bizarre and fantastic film in which Herbert Achternbusch himself plays a leading role, as in so many of his films. The supporting cast is as always made up of relatives and friends. No-man’s Land can be seen as a kind of framework. A trial takes place in a fictitious location in the United States, where only atheist descendants of South Tyrolian emigrants live. The villain of the piece (Achternbusch) is absent, but he is fervently defended by his family. The accused has dedicated his life to introducing new traffic signs, based on boards used on the inland waterways.The role of Achternbusch is seen in home-movie-like films edited in between the trial scenes. These films within the film, experimental sketches which resemble amateur films, were shot in Mongolia. Achternbusch had Mongolian nomads take part. Within the logic of the film, the Mongolians play the role of the annihilated and maltreated American Indians. Achternbusch considers the genocide of the Indians incompatible with the American ideal of freedom and that it is time for reparations. On white cowboy boots, Achternbusch fusses inimitably with histraffic signs to the visible astonishment of the Mongolian bystanders.The so-called American sections were shot by Achternbusch in Oberbayern and Südtirol, while the sections which are set in Mongolia were also really shot there. The images from imaginary America and the Mongolian `No-man’s Land’ have very different styles; the former are very stylised and absurdly surrealist, the Mongolian shots are unpolished and playful and look like holiday films which got out of hand. The interweaving of these two different approaches to the already-absurd situation result in the kind of original film which only Achternbusch can make.