Der schwarze Tanner

Switzerland, January 1986
FILM, Fiction, 106 min.

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directed by
Xavier Koller
Written by
Xavier Koller, Walo Deuber
Status
In distribution

1941. Second World War. «Somewhere in Switzerland». Kaspar Tanner, together with his family, runs the Gschwend farm. He is told by the authorities to turn part of his meadow into farmland. Tanner, a patriot and democrat, prepared to defend his homeland at all times, nevertheless refuses to let the government run him. Despite the present state of emergency, which would seem to justify intervention in his «private realm», Tanner feels his «self-reliance» must be preserved.
Threats of legal action and fines only make Tanner more determined. Isolated and with his back to the wall, he begins to farm again, in the same self-supporting manner of his forefathers. He ends up by turning to black marketeering and eventually going to prison - where he finds himself on the brink of death. Characters like Tanner, bound to nature and the land, are becoming more and more of a rarity. Tanner's willful resistance reveals a lot of primitive, democratic «mud» clinging to his boots, mud which is stirred in the story by ironic means.

credits

World Premiere
January 1986
Original Version
Swiss-German (english subtitles),  colour, 35mm, 106 min.
ISAN
0000-0000-5CC5-0000-2-0000-0000-V
Production
SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen, Catpics
Producer
directed by
Xavier Koller
Written by
Xavier Koller, Walo Deuber
Editing
Fee Liechti
Music
Hardy Hepp
Location Sound Mix
Hans Künzi
Production Design
Rolf Engler

Cast

Otto Mächtlinger
Renate Steiger
Giovanni Früh
Jürgen Cziesla
Albert Freuler
Ernst C. Sigrist

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