Beautiful days

Holl spends “beautiful days” on his father’s farm where his mother and stepfather have sent him and where he is welcomed as a cheap labor. The farm is governed by patriarchal rule; verbal communication is restricted to orders and reprimands. Dulled by hard work from early youth, these people are condemned to live with a lack of expression and consciousness, unable to express their feelings other than in episodes of brutal and primitive sex. Gradually Holl begins to discern connections and learns to do the farm work properly. Thus he undergoes a process of liberation, his stubbornness not stemming from mere aggression but purposeful provocation. After eleven years of fear and humiliation, he musters the strength and courage to shake off his bondage, leave his father’s farm, and start a new life as a locksmith’s apprentice.Franz Innerhofer’s first novel is autobiographical to a certain extent, in that the author has found a language in which to express the sufferings of the speechless giving rise to hope for more “beautiful days”.Special qualities: the conception of the director in telling a story in a visual style perfectly complements the script which has great contemporary relevance. (Adolf-Grimme Preis, Prix Italia) [original german version with no subt.]