The friends Michel (Michael König) and Günther (Günther Kaufmann) own a treasure map of Peru. Despite the resistance of Hanna (Hanna Schygulla), who wants to marry Michel, the friends plan a trip to Peru.
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Fassbinder does "simple"; a buddy/road comedy, infused with the usual longings for some "other" and its promise of "freedom". Except our inept male protagonists embody - often hilariously - the very limits they're striving to overcome, and the far-more-competent, apparently secondary, women (who seem to dominate the film) are mired in their own self-defeating patriarchal narratives. Funny, right? Comedy à la RWF. 3.5
A rather exquisite observation of the vagueness & inconstancy of ethics & resolution in post-WWII Germany. As in Borzage's cinema, Fassbinder's characters are always gazing outward at some unknown area, seized by the strangeness & allure of their own notions & impressions of 'freedom,' a complex concept in RWF. Political anger has transformed into something more tender & despondent. Schygulla's lipstick is glorious.
Fassbinder's "buddy" film? The key may be in the line of dialogue stating that women's repression is present in their behavior, but if Hanna's exclusion from the homoerotic male dyad is the core of the film, it remains unrealized until the final minutes. Light variations of motifs from the Franz Walsh trilogy. The dance between Hanna and Rainer is memorable, moving that it's Schygulla's favorite memory of him.
Michel et Gunther sont las de leur quotidien sans grande ouverture. C'est ainsi qu'ils décident d'organiser un voyage au Pérou, car ils possèdent une carte indiquant l'emplacement d'un trésor près du Rio das Mortes. Reste à trouver l'argent nécessaire pour leur expédition, et à convaincre Hanna, la fiancée de Michel.... et le spectateur !
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