Hunting Scenes from Bavaria

Abram comes back to the Lower Bavarian village he was born in after months away. His skill at repairs is needed; but a rumour that he is homosexual soon starts going round. First the jokes, then the exclusion, then the threats. The villagers reach a decision among themselves and the matter stops being about driving a man out and becomes a hunt. Peter Fleischmann's film is adapted from Martin Sperr's play; Sperr both wrote the text and plays Abram. It is one of the early, hard examples of New German Cinema. The village here is not an innocent place; morality, gossip and violence are parts of the same arrangement. Angela Winkler and Hanna Schygulla are in the cast. It was West Germany's submission for the foreign language Oscar that year.