Südsee, eigene Insel (4 Stars)

Watching a German comedy is always a risk, but this film came with strong recommendations, and I wasn't disappointed.

Albert Bursche is the head of the finance department of a large German company. There's an ambitious young man in his department, Dr. Helmut Kupert, who is after his job, and makes no secret of it. I think we can all relate to that. The younger man is academically better qualified and thinks that this makes him better than his older, more experienced boss. What makes things worse for Albert is that Helmut is his next door neighbour.

Things go wrong when Albert's investment adviser absconds with his money. Overnight he becomes bankrupt. The timing is bad, because it's the day before Albert and his family are due to go on holiday to the South Pacific. Not wanting to lose face in front of Helmut, he persuades his family to hide in the cellar for two weeks. He calls it "holiday at home".

I had certain expectations of the film. I expected a message against materialism, and that two weeks spent in a dark cellar can be more rewarding than two weeks lying on a warm beach. This message came, but it wasn't pushed as hard as I expected. The director didn't want to be too obvious, and he presented a few surprises. For instance, when a burglar breaks into the seemingly empty house Albert makes friends with him rather than call the police and give himself away. The film began slowly, building up momentum, until the final half hour which was filled with absurd comical situations. Successful German comedies are a rarity, and this is one of them.