The film's title, literally translated, is "The Time of the Cannibals". No,
there aren't actually any cannibals in it. The title refers to the greed of
capitalism which eats up the little man.
Kai Niederländer and Frank Öllers are two businessmen who travel around the
world, rarely leaving their hotel rooms. They're business consultants who
advise their clients on how to make more money, mostly by producing goods in
poor countries where the wages are low. Their opinions are taken seriously,
and if they disapprove of an enterprise the reactions are extreme.
I assume that their opinions can decide whether investors put money into companies or not.
Their colleague Hellinger should have been with them, but he's absent from the
current trip. At first they think he's been promoted, but they later discover
that he's committed suicide. His replacement is Bianca März, a woman who's
only been with their company for five weeks. They don't trust her.
I've read reviews that highly praise the film, calling it one of the best
German films for years. I don't understand why. I was struggling with the film
from the first minutes. I couldn't understand what the director was trying to
say. "Capitalism is bad"? That's a message that could have been told in a more
entertaining film. The claustrophobia of every scene taking place in hotel
rooms doesn't help the story. There were occasional jokes that made me
chuckle, but then the film settled back down in its dull pace.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tick the box "Notify me" to receive notification of replies.