Rio das Mortes (1971) (TV)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writer:

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (writer)

Release Date:

15 February 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Michel and Guenther, working in dead-end jobs, are obsessed with going to Peru to find buried treasure...

Cast

Hanna Schygulla	...	Hanna
Michael König	...	Michel
Günther Kaufmann	...	Günther
Katrin Schaake	...	Katrin - Hannas Freundin
Harry Baer	...	Michels Kollege
Ulli Lommel	...	Autohändler
Marius Aicher	...	Meister
Walter Sedlmayr	...	Sekretär
Carla Egerer	...	Kundin (as Carla Aulaulu)
Joachim von Mengershausen	...	Joachim - Katrins Freund
Hanna Axmann-Rezzori	...	Mäzenin
Franz Maron	...	Hannas Onkel
Elga Sorbas	...	Secretary to Hannas Onkel
Rudolf Waldemar Brem	...	Kneipenbesucher
Eva Pampuch	...	Freundin des Tänzers

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Antiteater-X-Film

Movie Connections:

Edited into Von Sex bis Simmel (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Jailhouse Rock

Well worth checking out

Excellent early Fassbinder about two shiftless young men who decide, seemingly on the spur of a moment, that the next big step in their lives will be an extended expedition for treasure in Peru's Rio das Mortes region. One of their fiancées (Hanna Schygulla, as gorgeous and as great as ever) finds the notion stupid and wants to put a stop to it. It's a droll comedy and has a ton of great sequences. This is the first film in a Fassbinder bender I'm going on. I'm planning on seeing all of the films of his that have recently been released on DVD. I've been thinking a lot about this particular auteur lately. I don't think that enough time has passed since his untimely death to allow his career to be taken into proper perspective. Fassbinder reminds me a lot of Rohmer, Ozu, Godard and Bresson. He's in his own little world in his films (a world which changed a lot in the 13 or so years during which he was active), and a lot of people are still misunderstanding it as overly theatrical, or stilted, or otherwise. The more films one sees by him, the more one gets adjusted to this universe. I think Rio das Mortes is best appreciated by Fassbinder's fans, and is unlikely to make any new converts (start with Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Fox and His Friends, and The Marriage of Maria Braun).