• THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF KOMBACH (1971)

  • THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF KOMBACH (1971)

  • THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF KOMBACH (1971)

  • THE SUDDEN WEALTH OF THE POOR PEOPLE OF KOMBACH (1971)

“A Hessian ‘Heimatfilm'”. (Schlöndorff 2011, p. 186)

1821 in upper Hesse: Although the farmers and the day laborers of Kombach are hard workers, the crop failure and the high taxes prevent them from earning enough to sustain their families. To end their misery a group of men create a plan, with a fatal aftermath: they want to rob the money transport of the Elector and with the looted money start a new, carefree life. However, the light-heartedness shall not last long, since: a destitute person that suddenly becomes rich makes himself suspicious…

Schlöndorff’s filmed homeland exhibition is classified into a new wave that, starting with Peter Fleischmann’s JAGDSZENEN AUS NIEDERNBAYERN (Hunting Scenes from Bavaria, 1968/69), became an alternative to the popular ‘Heimatfilm’ (regional film) from the 1940s/1950s, called the Sub-Genre of the Skeptical or New Wave regional film.

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