"Western" is a new movie that has managed a pretty strong deal of awards recognition already, not just at the Cannes Film Festival. It is a co-production between Germany, Bulgaria and Austria. The writer and director is Valeska Grisebach and she recently made the headlines as she was a script consultant on the Oscar-nominated Toni Erdmann. But while she worked in that position on other films too, she also wrote and directed before. This is over a decade ago already and I have seen her previous work "Sehnsucht" and liked it too. Her style is easily recognizable. I can only talk about that film and this one here, but there is something very bleak to her works and the characters are like you and me basically, really normal guys that make decisions that have a massive impact on their lives. Be it cheating or, like in this one here, the decision to leave Germany (temporarily) for Bulgaria and accept the offer as a construction worker abroad.

This is the central character and while he manages to get along with the locals really nicely, there is also a strong opposite of that, a man who kills one of the locals' horses, gets in trouble with a local woman, turns off a local well etc. These are the two men in the center of it all on the German side. And if I see it correctly, then none of the actors had any acting experience before, which also adds to Grisebach's Everyday Joe approach. I cannot really say anything about the Bulgarian actors really as I don't know any of them. Gonna leave that to the Bulgarians. One of the key aspects here is testosterone as really all men, all German men, in here except the protagonist really want to show their masculinity to everybody and funnily enough the central character is eventually the one who gets the hot girl. It's especially interesting that a female writer came up with this very male-centered story. It's like tables turned on Detlev Buck writing teenage chick flicks à la Bibi und Tina.

But back to this one here. We have several scenes when we see the protagonist getting assaulted. And he says on one occasion that he is not one for fighting. Then interestingly enough if we ignore the knife scene in the water, the only real moment when he does get aggressive (too much actually) and pulls a gun is when his new friend gets attacked. So he sure is a very loyal guy and may put the good of those dear to him above his own happiness. On a similar note, the component of violence increases the longer the film goes. Early on we have a scene when a guy presses a girl playfully under water. Next up a scene when a man accidentally injures a kid. Then there is a scene with a pulled knife. Then there is a scene with a terribly injured horse suffering a lot before it finally gets put out of its misery. Then there is the pulled gun scene I mentioned before. And there are more examples. These scenes let me think that Grisebach will end the film on a really violent note with the protagonist either killing somebody or getting killed himself. There were really enough possibilities as he kept antagonizing people too. But this is where Grisebach returns to her standards unspectacular approach and the film just ends with a dance scene that shows us the central character for once not distant or on his own, but instead joining the townsfolk. This also underlines the comment by the protagonist's friend at some point that what happened, also (or especially) the violent stuff, is just not too uncommon for the Bulgarian countryside. It's a rough area with even rougher people.

All in all, Grisebach proves with her work that she is certainly among Germany's finest female filmmakers/writers looking at how well she understands the male psyche and it's at least on the same level as Doris Dörrie's films centering around men. Grisebach shouldn't be sad that another film got picked representing Germany at the upcoming Oscars I think, maybe because this one here had too much Bulgarian instead of German dialogue to it. This is also a very interesting film as we have so much about the subject of immigrants coming to Germany these days, so here we see how it's done the other way around. How it should be done. It's a really long film at pretty much exactly 2 hours, but maybe with the slightly too long introduction in the first 20 minutes, this is a film that never drags for a bit and I was genuinely curious what would happen next to the central characters and how their stories would continue. Grisebach proves that you don't need experienced big-name actors if you have a smart script and manage to make it an atmospheric watch. Of course, this doesn't mean any of the actors were bad. On the contrary, they all felt very real and authentic in their approaches. Finally, the tone and style will turn this into a film that is definitely not for everybody. But if you manage to find an emotional access to the story and an interest in the characters, then you will be greatly rewarded. There were moments when I considered giving the movie an even higher rating. It's really difficult to find something wrong with the film. I initially did not like the title too much, but the more I think about it the more this makes sense too as it is a bit of a western, even if it is set in Eastern Europe. There is a dry prairie-like area, there's guns and knives, there's lone wolf characters, strong alpha males and a lot of conflict that may or may not be solved in a violent fashion. I absolutely recommend the watch here. Without a doubt one of Germany's (and Bulgaria's) finest from 2017.

Despite director Valeska Grisebach's claims that her film, "Western," is inspired by the popular American film genre, the title refers more to cultural differences between western and eastern Europe than it does traditional cowboys and indians. Indeed, on the surface nothing resembling a traditional movie western is to be found in this film, aside from macho posturing and men trying to assert their authority over one another. But then again, I imagine that's Grisebach's point of inspiration, as that's largely what American westerns are all about.

In "Western," a group of German workers is assigned to a construction project in a remote area of Bulgaria, and the film mostly follows one of them, Meinhard, a sort of odd man out, as he sours on the companionship of his fellow workers and instead befriends a nearby Bulgarian village. Meinhard has a violent past, having formerly been a legionnaire (he refuses to answer when one of the men asks if he's ever killed someone),and the whole movie consists mostly of waiting to see if and when Meinhard will explode as tensions between the Germans and Bulgarians mount.

Grisebach has said that she wanted her movie to explore themes of toxic masculinity, a goal that some have applauded while others have derided. I think her point is that in a traditional western movie, the quiet and stoic hero (Meinhard) would only let himself be pushed so far before he asserted his power and authority over the other men, usually through controlled but violent means. But that idea of the alpha male is becoming more and more antiquated, and this film seems to suggest that perhaps the manliest thing one can do is choose to walk away from male bluster and instead join the camp of inclusivity and understanding.

"Western" is full of men being aggressive to greater and lesser degrees -- to women, to each other -- yet it's Meinhard, the one who decides at the film's end to dance at a village celebration rather than mete out the revenge he so clearly wants to take, who emerges as the character with the most strength.

Grade: A

OK, the writer/director deserves Kudos for trying to bring the classical American Western movie hero (e.g. Winchester '73; The Gunfighter) portrayal to contemporary Europe. European, especially German, fascination w/this genre has been around for decades. Plot: German construction workers are building a small dam in Bulgaria near the Greek border. For some reason they didn't bring a translator (not realistic, dumb script error) so communication is a problem w/the local rural population. Some locals also have some historic mistrust, post war remembrance, of Germany. Since they're mostly isolated its mostly beers and male cocky, posturing, showing off style toughness. That's about all we see which gets boring quickly. A surprisingly well tamed horse is found roaming free and becomes a focal point between some of the workers and locals. First time acting for many, but wasn't a demanding script. I think the plot theme was to make contemporary the stereotypical Western's male quiet, laid back, hero warrior. Anyway, difficult to follow. Suggest, if interested in this story concept, watch "The Dark Valley".