Some Time Later (4 Stars)

This is the 46th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

It's the year 9177. There's only one city left on Earth, housed in a single high rise building. Business is strictly organised in order to support the free market. There are exactly three of each business, which can compete against each other. For instance, there are three barbers, three grocery stores, three butchers and three churches. Yes, churches are a business as well. Those who work within the building have access to one another's shops. Those who are unemployed live in the forest in wooden huts, eating the scraps they can find.

The status quo is disturbed when a man from the forest visits the building to sell lemonade. He's not allowed to sell lemonade, because he's violating the free market laws. He doesn't have a shop in the building, and if he did he would have a monopoly on lemonade, which is illegal. There's danger of a rebellion, because the castle's inhabitants want to buy his lemonade. The king has a solution. One of the barbers has murdered a rival who had more customers than him. The king says that the lemonade salesman should be charged with the murder. There are witnesses who saw the barber committing the murder, but the king is always right.

This is a political satire, but don't get weighed down with the politics. From beginning to end the film is full of Monty-Python-ish humour. The comedy is more important than any political message.