"Pioniere in Ingolstadt" or "Pioneers in Ingolstadt" is a West German 85-minute film from 1971, so this one has its 45th anniversary this year. writer and director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was sill in his mid-20s at this point, but looking at his body of work, he was already a prolific filmmaker at that point. And he had his group of actors around him already, these performers that he worked with on a regular basis. In this film, this would be Schygulla, Hermann, Kaufmann, Brem, Sedlmayr, Kaufmann, Löwitsch, Lommel and others, so really a lot of people as you see and they appeared in many other Fassbinder films. I mentioned the runtime already and it is one of Fassbinder's shorter works. His early career efforts all aren't that long. Some are in black-and-white, but not this one here.
This one here is the story of a naive young woman who falls in love with an army officer, but gets disappointed a lot from him. And there are other interesting characters as well, such as Hermann's, the one who keeps having sex (for money) with many many officers and the other girls too. In general, I am pretty sure that American soldiers who watched this film were probably not too happy with the way the Forces were depicted in here: sleazy, careless, drunk etc. I wonder if Fassbinder had a negative experience with them in real life as they were of course still all over Germany or what motivated him to depict them like that.
In terms of the female characters, it is the usual from Fassbinder and they look extremely similar just like the way they look in several others (also later) Fassbinder films in terms of how he describes their characters. I personally found it an interesting watch and even if it is really not too much action for the runtime, it is rewarding for the audience. It should not have been longer as it may have dragged then, but at under 90 minutes it is fine. The ending also turns this into one of Fassbinder's most depressing films I guess because of what happens to the main character, who is just a positive girl, but has to pay a whole lot for her naivety. I recommend the watch. There is no real stand-out performance in here, but everybody is giving a decent performance. See it.
This one here is the story of a naive young woman who falls in love with an army officer, but gets disappointed a lot from him. And there are other interesting characters as well, such as Hermann's, the one who keeps having sex (for money) with many many officers and the other girls too. In general, I am pretty sure that American soldiers who watched this film were probably not too happy with the way the Forces were depicted in here: sleazy, careless, drunk etc. I wonder if Fassbinder had a negative experience with them in real life as they were of course still all over Germany or what motivated him to depict them like that.
In terms of the female characters, it is the usual from Fassbinder and they look extremely similar just like the way they look in several others (also later) Fassbinder films in terms of how he describes their characters. I personally found it an interesting watch and even if it is really not too much action for the runtime, it is rewarding for the audience. It should not have been longer as it may have dragged then, but at under 90 minutes it is fine. The ending also turns this into one of Fassbinder's most depressing films I guess because of what happens to the main character, who is just a positive girl, but has to pay a whole lot for her naivety. I recommend the watch. There is no real stand-out performance in here, but everybody is giving a decent performance. See it.