u-fessler
In fact, it ain't a typical road movie. It is rather a tragic-comedic study of a man left behind by the rest of the world. A man, who after losing his job is left without a real meaning in his life. In addition, his only living relative, his demented mother, who he visits from time to time in a nursing home, suddenly dies. Out of the blue he gets to hear a piece of Zydeco music on the radio. At first, he is flabbergasted and doesn't know what to think about it. But from then on, very gradually, this type of music changes his life. He figures that he cannot hope to find the roots of it in Germany, where he has lived ever since his birth. So he ventures out into the USA to find the roots of his new love, the Zydeco music. He finally reaches them in the heart of Louisiana. Shortly after that he dies.What does this tell us? Well, probably not a whole lot. But maybe at least that it's better to pursue happiness in life even if you think you're probably already too old for it. And that it's a better life if you die happy.
jodytres
I wish I'd noticed the review filter was set to "best reviews" straight away. Because I've been reading the intelligent raves with increasing horror. My husband and I struggled with this painfully self indulgent nonsense over THREE evenings (and I'm the type who will gasp appreciatively at four hour epics with no subtitles restored from a fire-damaged trash can found at a long defunct Romanian experimental film school). I am usually patient to a fault."Schultze" drove me quite around the bend, however. Everyone else here has said why beautifully. I am delighted to be in your critical, dreadfully disappointed but perceptive company!
aede-2
A multicultural story that presents a real life as a real experience. The pace will turn off anyone addicted to the smash-dash of Hollywood mainstream films, but the subtle humour and just general good nature of the film makes it something special.The central character, Schultze, finds a new life after hearing some zydeco music and this leads him to America and a journey into a strange land, made stranger by the fact that much of it seems like his German home, but just different enough to be a kind of culture shock for both Schultze and the viewers.Have a beer, set your feet up and take a slow ride into the bayou.
jonvalentine2
I hate to be the person who says you have to "get the culture" to get the humor of this movie... but I have to be that person. The scene where the man has the unreasonable reaction to the neighbor's lawnmower had me rolling. The lawnmower is the natural enemy of Germans. There is even a law that it is illegal to use a lawnmower on Sundays. Mix that with the scene of the old men at the crossing gate, angrily dinging their little bells rather than just going around the gate... and the man at the doctor's office because he's worried that his changing music taste might be a sign of a serious malady... and you've got an extremely subtle, but just hysterical view of the German temperament. If I didn't teach German, and hadn't spent a lot of time there, I would have hated this movie. However, if you have German parents or grandparents, or have been personally chided for not following some random rule in Germany (like mowing your lawn on a Sunday), you'll love this movie.
AD
