The third feature from German film-maker Valeska Grisebach sharply observes two intersecting communities of men with a woman’s needling gaze. Though titled Western, it is set in eastern Europe, close to Bulgaria’s Greek border (hinting at the presence of refugees). Wild country – politically volatile, physically harsh, and its own kind of wild west frontier.
Lonely cowboy Meinhard is a German construction worker and former legionnaire sent to spend the summer building a hydroelectric power plant in rural Bulgaria. More comfortable in the company of pearl grey steed Tornado than he is with his boss, Vincent, Meinhard ditches his testosterone-fuelled colleagues and befriends Adrian, one of the villagers. His fellow Germans are a parody of hyper-masculinity, spending their off-duty hours drunkenly braiding one another’s hair around a campfire, taunting women and picking fights with their new neighbours.
