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Recruits in Ingolstadt

Play trailer Recruits in Ingolstadt 1971 1h 24m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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50% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 50% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A young woman, Berta, looks for love within a group of Army engineers building a bridge.

Critics Reviews

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Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine 09/02/2003
2.5/4
Fassbinder is clearly bored...and it shows. Go to Full Review
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 06/25/2001
Fassbinder's simplicity in framing the action is often a tonic, but the lip-smacking depictions of cruelty remain as problematic as ever. Go to Full Review
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid 06/24/2006
4/4
It's a powerful film, shot quickly and economically with incredible cinematic poetry. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 07/23/2005
4/5
Matt Bailey Not Coming to a Theater Near You 05/12/2003
What could be the basis of a wild teen flick, in Fassbinder's hands, turns into a coldly calculated examination of the impossibility (or at least the improbability) of love. Go to Full Review
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 11/18/2002
C+
The comedy attempted is perverse and dry, while the mood of the film alternates between being melancholy and less melancholy. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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01/07/2014 So much of early Fassbinder seems to be an answer to the question "What would it be like if Bertolt Brecht staged a Douglas Sirk melodrama?" It would be pretty amazing. There's a pretty routine story here about small town girls romancing visiting soldiers, but Fassbinder's deliberate distancing tricks and fierce, cruel sense of humour transform it into something quite different. This appears to be set during WWII, but there are so many deliberate anachronisms that it becomes very hard to pin down. See more 09/29/2013 It's a powerful film, shot quickly and economically with incredible cinematic poetry. See more 04/14/2010 The more I think about it the more I liked this one. This is my 13th Fassbinder film. There is something about the mix of melodramatic and wooden acting that really hits the spot. Hanna Schygulla always does a great job, but Irm Hermann stole the show for me. I love the way the girls snap at each other and the animosity between the bored soldiers and the lazy rich citizens. I wish I could remember more specific lines, as it had some really great one-liners. See more 03/08/2010 Early Fassbinder is sweet torture. All is mundane, yet somehow high melodrama simultaneously, and he lingers in scenarios unnecessarily just long enough to get me a little pissed off. Why does it work? Perhaps I'll never know, but give give me Irm Hermann one-upping a girl with a prostitution boast, or Hanna Schygulla weeping spread-eagle during the closing credits, and I will shout praise. Sadly, all the handsome soldiers keep their uniforms on. See more 12/20/2009 A brilliant Adaption of the Novel about the Dangers of Soldiers that doesen't fight and just hang around they getting bored and search for a War because that's the Thing they made for to fight one Reason for the Rise of the Nazis was that to much Soldiers was without Employment so they join Free Corps and that Free Corps lead to the SS who level the Rise of Adolf Hitler it also shows how boring and depressing Villages are the Life there is bland and many People are led to do crazy Things because of this Boredom See more 07/25/2009 An interesting watch with a strange genre, poetic at times. Pioneers are tasked to build a bridge in Ingolstadt but focuses on the trampy relationships between them and desperate women in a nearby park. The scenes are beautifully lit alongside some intriguing ideas. Not a Fassbinder favorite though. See more Read all reviews
Recruits in Ingolstadt

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Movie Info

Synopsis A young woman, Berta, looks for love within a group of Army engineers building a bridge.
Director
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Producer
Klaus Hellwig, Kurt Raab
Screenwriter
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Genre
Drama
Original Language
German
Runtime
1h 24m