"Der Bockerer III - Die Brücke von Andau" is an Austrian German-language film from 2000, so this one is heading towards its 20th anniversary. The title already gives away that this is the third film from a quadrology. While the gap between films 1 and 2 was huge, the gap between films 2 and 3 is only 4 years. It runs for 90 minutes approximately, slightly over and is a late career effort by writer and director Franz Antel who is mostly known for all the sex comedies he made earlier in his career several decades before. So yeah, as most of them were really bad, this one here is a bit of a step up in quality. But that doesn't mean it was a good watch. Not at all. The good news is that it is probably not worse than films 1 and 2, so if you liked these, then you will maybe enjoy this one here too. The bad news is that I found the first 2 Bockerer films extremely weak and forgettable. Not seen number 4 yet. Oh well, what else can you say about this one here. The story goes on chronologically ant it plays way after the War already. The Austrian accents are pretty thick, so even if you are a German native speaker, you may need subtitles to understand absolutely everything. Merkatz is okay in what is still perhaps his career-defining role. He's not the reason why this film (franchise) is so underwhelming. If you read the name Merkatz and the title Bockerer, then maybe you'd expect a comedy, but it's not. It's all about the drama with several historic references. Overall, I give this film a thumbs-down, but like I said earlier: If you enjoyed the previous 2, then feel free to check it out. If not, then skip this one. I think it's highly unlikely you plan on seeing this one without having seen the previous installment(s) here, so you be the judge. The story-telling approach and tone doesn't change a lot (not at all actually), even if it is set years later.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
