Western

Western is a 2017 film from Germany.  It is a slow burning thriller that follows a group of German Construction workers installing a hydroelectric plan in a remote, rural Bulgarian Town.  The foreign land awakens the sense of adventure in the workers.  This begins with swimming in and around river areas, getting worked up around local women bathers.  As the film develops, Meinhard, the new comer to the construction crew, begins seeking out time spent in the local village, and starts to befriend some of the villagers.  While some of these budding relationships, have some tender and tension filled moments, the film brings to the table the role of foreign seasonal workers in remote areas that may or may not want the help.

The two sides of people in the film speak different languages, in addition to sharing a troubled history.  The stark, mountainous landscape, creates a visually harsh backdrop for the film.  While most of the construction workers vie for attention of the local women, and try to show off, much of their own prejudices and mistrust of the villagers and their mistrust of each other and the villagers creates a mounting pressure and thriller type of feel to the movie.

The film is visually stunning, with its large sweeping approaches to the mountainous and river landscapes.  Dialogue is minimal and very pointed.  I found the dialogue to carry more of a heavier tone, than most thrillers or film noirs, out of the US or Britain, which tend to be a bit more quippy.  While I find most thrillers, especially Hitchcock films reminiscent of a look at human behavior, I found Western to take a more darker philosophical tone.  The historical approaches and mistrusts added a more humanistic approach to the film and drew the viewer in a bit more.  I found the scenery and much of the cinematography and non dialogue scenes far more fascinating and more of a driving tour de force of the movie.  This movie's a bit more refreshing in the sense that much of the sweeping views of the landscape were not CGI altered, which gave far more to the natural, rocky, dusty and grit needed to help drive the visuals and story-line.  Well worth seeing on the large screen.